Anxious Paradox
by Neuropsych
Summary: A new Campers! story, and Ian ends up where he least expects it
1. Chapter 1

**_Anxious Paradox_**

_Author's Note:_

_So! A new Campers! story. Hopefully you'll like it, and hopefully I'll post more frequently. Chicago's next month, so if I'm not done by then (and I don't know how long this story will be so who knows) I'll take the week off for the convention, most likely - or maybe not, who knows? Anyway, enjoy and keep letting me know what you think as we progress! Oh, and I'm not making any money off this and not purposely infringing on anyone's copyrights so don't sue me!_

OOOOOOOOOO

"You know… I _could_ come."

Ian Brooks smiled and gave his wife into an embrace.

"You said you'd rather help Beckett."

"You _want_ to go alone?"

"Of course not. We could drop the boys with my mom – or _yours_ – and spend some time on the beach…"

Cassandra Brooks smiled.

"_You_ have a report to deliver."

"It can wait."

"It's for the _President_."

"He'd understand…"

She laughed, pulling away from him and slapping his hand.

"You need to get to Earth, _Colonel_. I have things to do."

Ian made a show of an exasperated sigh and a groan of disappointment that she knew was only half sham. He'd really make Jack wait if she gave the word and she loved him for it. But also knew that the report he was supposed to give to O'Neill and the others was an important one.

"You're an evil woman, Cassandra Brooks. Leading me on like that and then-"

"I did _not_ lead you on!"

"You _did_. Slinking in here with that sexy walk of yours, wagging those delectable hips in that way that you-"

"Daddy!"

He was interrupted by the twins, who came rushing into the room, grinning excitedly when they saw him. Ian reached down and swept them both up into his arms.

"Do you _really_ have to go?" Carter asked, hanging upside down with the absolute confidence that his father wasn't going to drop him.

"Yup. Uncle Jack's waiting on me."

"Can we come?" Michael asked.

"No."

"Cause we have _school_…" Carter reminded his brother.

"Can't we skip, daddy? Please?"

Ian shook his head and turned Michael upside down as well, dangling him beside Carter.

"Nope. Besides, who's going to keep your mom safe if we all go?"

"Rodney."

Cassie snorted, and Ian swung Michael over to her. She caught him and then tossed him onto the bed.

"I need you guys here," Cassie told the boys. "Now, tell your dad goodbye and let him get going so he can get back."

Carter joined his brother with a well-placed toss from Ian and the two grinned up at him.

"Who was in charge last time?" Ian asked, already knowing but checking to see if they'd remember.

"Me!" Carter said, quickly, just as Michael pointed to him.

"Then Michael's in charge this time. Keep mommy from working all night – and make sure she eats right."

Cassie smiled over their heads at Ian, who winked.

"Yes, sir."

He knew that Michael would watch Cassie like a hawk, constantly nagging her about eating if he saw her skip a meal or not go to bed on time – which actually varied. Turning their children on her was one of his most brilliant ideas – and it worked every time. Besides, it gave them a purpose when he was gone, and debriefing when he returned was always fun – especially with their memories.

Ian kissed them both, and then kissed Cassie once more before reaching down and picking up his travel bag.

"I'll be back before you know it."

She nodded.

"You'd better be."

He turned and headed for the gate room content in the knowledge that they'd be okay until he returned.

OOOOOOOOOO

"What _exactly_ are you trying to accomplish with this thing?" Jack O'Neill asked his second in command.

Carter spared a look at him, one that was only a little annoyed. It wasn't like she'd tried to explain this '_thing'_ to him a dozen times already. Of course, she was used to it, which was why the annoyance was tinged with amusement. She wasn't sure if he was messing with her or not – and she kind of liked that. Most of the time, anyway.

"We're going to see if we can increase the output of the wormhole…"

"By having _someone else_ dial it up?"

She shook her head.

"By having Lieutenant Stein dial the gate from Q-34X19 we can get a better idea of just how the power will fluctuate if there's any kind of-"

"Eh!"

Jack held his hand up to stop her lengthy explanation.

"Will it blow us up?"

"No, sir."

"Will it blow up Stein?"

"It shouldn't."

Jack looked down at the black lab who was standing beside him, watching intently as if he understood what was going on.

"What do _you_ think?"

Jaffer rumbled cheerfully when Jack addressed him, but didn't answer.

"How much longer will-"

The Stargate started dialing in, and Sam smiled.

"He's starting, now. We'd better get out of the way, just in case."

"In case of _what_?"

She shrugged, moving over to stand by the device she'd connected to the Stargate itself – not to the computer like she normally would have. She looked down at the monitor she'd built just for this purpose and then over to the technician in the control room. He looked down – presumably at his own computer – and then gave her a thumbs-up as the Stargate finished dialing the final chevron locked.

A warning beep sounded from the new device just as the wormhole engaged and Sam looked down, her expression not so much worried as confused.

"What the…?"

"Sam…?"

Jack wasn't at all happy with the tone of her voice, and she looked at him.

"It's nothing. Just an odd reading."

"Which _means_…?"

Jaffer shifted restlessly beside Jack, the lab looking at the Stargate and making another soft wuffling noise deep in his chest.

"Easy, Little man," Jack told him, his hand dropping to the lab's shoulder while his eyes were still on Carter.

The beep sounded again, and Sam frowned again.

"I don't understand this…"

"Understand what?"

She started to answer when the gate flared, alarms suddenly blaring all around them. An instant later a form came flying out of the gate, tumbling down the ramp and flinging what looked like a sports bag across the room as he came to a stop in a heap.

Jack jumped back, expecting the worst and Jaffer jumped forward; ready to protect his Jack if it was an attack.

"Jaffer!"

Jack wasn't about to let his dog face the unknown alone, and he wasn't the only one to stop when the man who'd landed at the bottom of the ramp turned over with a grunt of pain, looking over at the black lab.

"_Jaffer?"_


	2. Chapter 2

Jack frowned, hesitating a moment as he moved to Jaffer's side, still careful to not get between the Marine guards and their weapons and the stranger on the floor. The man was wearing a uniform of some sort he'd never seen before – although the eagles on the collars looked a lot like the same ones he was wearing himself.

"Who are you?" he asked, not really able to come up with anything better.

He was looking at a guy in about his mid thirties or so, dark eyes and hair with a crew cut that was as military as Jack had ever seen. No one he recognized, but the man's expression made it clear that he recognized him immediately. He also had a gun – Jack couldn't see the weapon, but he could see a strap from a shoulder holster, and there was a bulge under his arm, which was moved to slightly to the side since he was pressing a hand against his chest, clearly hurting.

The man looked at Jaffer, who was watching him carefully, his head up and ready to do whatever Jack needed him to do.

"I can't believe it's you…" Ian said, shaking his head. There was no mistaking Jaffer – which was obviously an issue since the lab was dead. Ian had forgotten just how much he'd loved that dog until he found himself looking at him again. A much younger version – just like Jack and Sam were both way younger than they were when he'd seen them last.

Something was definitely going on. The jolt that he'd experienced when he'd gone through the gate was obviously more than just some kind of weird turbulence.

"Hey," O'Neill scowled. "Talk to _me_, not the dog."

"Jack it's _me_."

Which was completely unexpected. Sam looked over at Jack, who looked about as clueless as she'd ever seen him.

"Colonel?" A new voice interrupted, and General Hammond walked over – also careful not to step between the stranger and the guards.

O'Neill turned halfway, not ready to completely take his eyes off the stranger – the stranger who knew his name – and looked at Hammond.

"I don't know, sir…"

Ian looked up at Hammond, who looked down at him with curiosity but no recognition.

"General Hammond."

"Do I know you?" Hammond asked, surprised to be called by name – even though he had a nametag on. The way the guy said it clearly made it sound familiar – and he hadn't seen his eyes move to read his nametag.

"Apparently not," Ian said, looking around. "It has to be some kind of time dilation…" He couldn't think of anything else. "Look… what year is it?"

Jack frowned.

"Why?"

Sam had also frowned.

"Time dilation?"

Ian nodded.

"Look, I know you don't recognize me, but you _know_ me – at least you will. My name's Ian Brooks. _Colonel_ Ian Brooks. I'm in the Air Force, just like you guys. Something happened… a jolt in the wormhole or something… when I was going through, and I obviously ended up somewhere out of my normal time stream."

"What year is it where you're from, Colonel?" Jack asked, skeptically.

"2019."

"_Really_?" Sam asked.

"I don't have any reason to lie to you."

"Actually, there could be several," Hammond said. He looked over at Carter. "Major, check him for any indication of a symbiote, please."

Sam shook her head.

"He's clean, sir."

She'd already thought of that.

"I'm not Goa'uld, General," Ian told him. "Or Tok'ra, for that matter – like _your_ father," he added, looking over at Carter.

"How did you know that?" Sam asked, stepping back, which caused Jaffer to put himself between her and Ian in an automatic protective stance. One Ian had seen often.

"I told you. I know you guys." He shifted his position, and sucked in a deep breath when he felt a jab of pain along his ribs – a sign that he'd probably bruised some when he'd made his tumble from the gate. "Look… it could be true, right?"

Sam hesitated, but had to nod as she looked over at O'Neill. They'd been knocked back in time before, it was possible.

"I suppose…"

"You have Jaffer…" he looked at Jack. "If you have Jaffer, then you know Shawn, because you couldn't have gotten Jaffer unless you know _Andrew_ – and they were at the same camp when you met them."

Which caused Jack and Sam to look at each other again.

"You know _Shawn_…?"

Ian sighed, annoyed at their caution, even though he understood it completely. He'd probably be even more skeptical than they were – if the tables were turned.

"Yes. I know Shawn, but he's not going to know me any more than you do, I suppose. Look… I don't know what happened… but I need to figure it out so I can get back home."

"If he's really from the future then there will e some record of him in this time," Hammond said. "Take him to the infirmary and get him checked out – and then see if you can figure out a way to confirm his identity."

Jack nodded.

"Yes, sir." He held his hand out. "I'll take your gun, Colonel…"

Ian scowled, but reached into his jacket and pulled out his Glock, handing it over.

"Don't lose it."

Jack took the weapon and stepped back, gesturing for a couple of Marines to help Ian to his feet.

"Just don't make me use it on you."


	3. Chapter 3

It was apparent as they walked to the infirmary – with a couple of Marine guards trailing behind them – that Ian Brooks knew where he was going. He didn't hesitate when they came to corners, he didn't stop to look at them when they crossed intersecting hallways to see which way to go and he seemed completely at ease in the underground base – as if he'd actually been there a million times. If the guy wasn't who he said he was, then he'd really done his homework.

What Jack was _really_ watching, though, was Jaffer. The black lab had started the walk beside Jack, watching the stranger with a little suspicion but not nearly as much as Jack himself was. Jaffer didn't smell any fear on the man and actually could sense that he was really glad to see _him_. Which, of course, made him even less suspicious. _Bad_ people were afraid of him. He worked himself up to where was walking beside the man, bumped himself against his thigh once and was rewarded with a hand that brushed against his ear in that way he liked so much. The lab rumbled, satisfied that this person wasn't the threat his Jack thought he was, and bumped him again just to get another caress.

Behind them Sam and Jack exchanged looks of varying disbelief and perplexity and Sam shrugged as they entered the infirmary. Clearly there was something going on that wasn't your typical Goa'uld takeover. What it was exactly, well, that remained to be seen.

Jack gestured for Ian to take a seat on one of the beds as Janet Fraiser walked over. She'd just gotten off the phone with Hammond, so she knew what to expect – as much as Hammond had told her, at any rate – but she hadn't expected the man to actually smile when she walked over.

"Janet."

Fraiser looked at Carter and O'Neill. Jack's face was expressionless, but Sam was looking more and more convinced every minute. There was certainly a familiarity in his voice and expression that told of a close relationship of some type with Fraiser – not everyone called her Janet, after all. Most just called her _doc_ when they weren't being formal.

"Colonel?"

"This is Ian Brooks," Jack said, introducing her – although Brooks didn't appear to need it. "_Colonel_ Ian Brooks. He says he's from the _future_."

"From the future, huh…"

Janet frowned and looked at the man.

"We know each other in the future?"

He nodded.

"You might say that."

"_And_ you know the Colonel and Major Carter…?"

"Oh, yes."

Ian wasn't sure exactly how much he should mention about the future. He wasn't completely sure what would happen if they knew what he knew, and he didn't want to do anything to mess with the timeline – more than they already had, of course. Already the paradox was making his head hurt, and he wasn't positive that he was going to be able to figure out how to fix things.

"He says he-"

Sam was interrupted by the arrival of Daniel and Teal'c, both of whom had been in Daniel's office when Ian had arrived, but had been alerted to what was going on by Hammond. Walking beside Teal'c was his yellow lab, and the dog eyed Ian warily as they approached. Ian just smiled, looking just as pleased as he had when he'd seen Jaffer.

"Jack…" he held out his hand to the yellow lab, who sniffed it suspiciously with his tail wagging slightly, showing that he was ready to be friends if Ian wasn't going to try anything stupid and make him have to rip his hand open.

"Who's this?" Daniel asked, surprised to see that Jaffer was practically cozying up to the stranger – and even more surprised that Jack wasn't scowling and hadn't called Jaffer back.

"This is-"

Before Jack could start the introductions again, Ian interrupted him.

"Colonel Ian Michael Brooks. United States Air Force. It's good to see you Daniel. And you, too, Teal'c."

Of course, Daniel looked a lot younger than he had when Ian had last seen him, but Teal'c looked exactly the same.

"You know us?" Daniel asked. He knew Hammond had said the guy was claiming to be from the future, but that didn't mean he really _was_, right?

"Yes. I know all of you. I've known you for-"

"_Anyone_ could know our names," Jack interrupted, annoyed, now. "It's not like the Goa'uld and a whole lot of other people haven't heard of us."

Ian had had enough. He was tired of the suspicion and tired of playing around.

"Yeah?" he asked, sarcastically – and now his New York accent came through. "How many people know you and Sam here had a roll in the hay playing Capture the Flag at Camp Millcreek the year you met Shawn and the other boys?"

The entire room went immediately silent. Sam and Jack stared at him in dumb shock while Daniel and Janet alternated between staring at Ian and then staring at the two in question. This was news to Janet – but not to Daniel, who had actually been there when it had happened. Well, not exactly _there_, but at the camp, at any rate, and he could count on one hand the people who knew that story.

None of them was named Ian Michael Brooks.

"How…" Jack looked at Sam, cleared his throat and then over at Ian. "How did you know that?"

"Because I'm from the _future_," Ian told him, annoyed. "I know _you_. I know _Sam_. I know Daniel and Teal'c and Jack and Jaffer and _everyone_ else, because I'm from the future. Now I don't know what that device is that you have hooked to the stargate, but whatever it is it _obviously_ screwed with my timeline and brought me here, so we need to get our shit together and get me home."

Sam frowned.

"How did you know about the device?"

"Because I saw it in the embarkation room."

"But-"

"Look," Jack said, interrupting again. "I'm not saying you're not who you say you are, but if you _are_, then you already know that we have to check out your story. I'm not going to turn you loose on the base just because you know about us."

A _lot_ about them.

"I get it," Ian told him. "So let's get through it, because I've got people at home who are probably already worried about me."

"I can check out his story, Jack," Daniel offered. He was the best one for the job anyways, since he was used to research – and Jack didn't even like to go near a computer when he could avoid it.

"Fine."

Daniel pulled out the pad of paper he tended to carry in his breast pocket and a pen.

"So your full name is Ian Michael Brooks?"

"Yes."

"Parents?"

Ian looked at Jack, waiting for his reaction.

"Nathan and Margaret Brooks."

Sure enough, there was a reaction.

"_General_ Nathan Brooks?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes."

"He doesn't have a son."

"Yes, he _does_." Ian looked at Sam. "_Your_ dad knows him – and he knows me. Or at least he did when I was younger – I'm sure he wouldn't recognize me now."

"He lives in New Jersey," Jack said to Daniel. "Call him and-"

"_Don't_ call him," Ian interrupted. "You'll be better off calling Jacob than having my dad come down here once he gets word that something's going on. Besides," he asked, with a bit of a smirk. "How are you going to explain to him that I'm here _and_ in New Jersey at the same time without sharing information about the stargate?"

Which was a good point.

Sam looked over at Jack.

"We could call my dad."

O'Neill frowned.

"You don't _look_ like Nate…"

Ian nodded.

"I know. But I look a _lot_ like my mom…"

"Call Jacob and ask him about him," O'Neill told Sam. "Daniel, check out his story."

Daniel nodded and left the room, followed by Carter, who glanced back at Ian before she left.

"I still need to check him out, Colonel," Fraiser reminded him. "He's hurt."

"Go ahead, doc," Jack said. "We probably have plenty of time."

Ian sighed, but he didn't argue about it. He'd learned a long time ago that there was no point in trying to argue with Janet Fraiser.


	4. Chapter 4

"What do you mean he didn't make it through?"

Major General Alan Hunt, commanding officer of the SGC scowled.

"What part of didn't make it here aren't you getting, Doctor McKay? The Stargate dialed in, we received his IDC and lowered the shield, and then the gate shut down without anyone coming through. We thought it was odd, so we're calling to see what happened."

McKay looked over at the gate technician who was sitting beside him.

"What happened?"

The man shrugged.

"I don't know, Doctor McKay. He went through…"

"I _saw_ him go through," McKay snapped. "Why didn't he make it through to the SGC? You know what, never mind. Move."

He gestured impatiently for the man to get out of the chair he was sitting in and took his place, immediately accessing the Stargate diagnostic program, the technician looking over his shoulder.

A moment later Rodney looked up at the screen where Hunt was impatiently waiting.

"Right when he went through there was a surge – a power spike from some kind of solar activity on your end. Have your techs go through your logs and see what happened."

Hunt wasn't used to being ordered around by civilians, but he nodded, well aware that this wasn't the time or place to argue about protocol.

"We'll get back to you as soon as we have something to tell you," he said, and the screen went blank as the gate shut down.

McKay sighed and leaned back into his chair. He hated not having immediate answers.

"I'm sure it won't take long," the technician said, trying to sound positive and failing.

Rodney gave him an annoyed look, but he wasn't mad at the guy, he was just trying to figure out what – and how – he was supposed to tell Cassandra Brooks what was going on.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Wow… where did you get these?"

Janet Fraiser had seen a lot of injuries in her time at the SGC – and before – but she couldn't ever remember seeing scars like the ones that went across Ian Brooks' chest.

"Bear," Ian answered, looking down to see which ones she'd meant.

Fraiser wasn't the only one who looked at him in surprise.

"Really?"

"You were there," he told her, and could have kicked himself for saying it. She wouldn't have remembered it, because it hadn't happened, yet. It was bound to start a whole lot of questioning that he wasn't so sure he should even answer.

"We were attacked by a bear?" the doctor asked, not at all surprisingly.

"Not _we_. Just me. You were the one that put me back together afterward. Or at least, you're the one who _will_, I suppose."

"How did you manage to get attacked by a bear?"

"I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"It's an old scar…" Fraiser said, examining the rest of his torso, looking for others. There were a couple that she was certain the gunshot wounds, and a couple that were almost certainly from an edged weapon – a knife most likely. Really, though, he appeared to be in good shape. Just a bit bruised from his tumble from the gate.

"Yes."

When he didn't elaborate further, she started taking blood pressure and other vitals, getting herself a measure of just how healthy he was – and in the meantime making absolutely certain that he wasn't Goa'uld. It didn't take long to do the examination and Brooks handled it as if she'd done it to him a million times – which she had, if what he was saying was really true. Finally she had him get dressed again, and she turned to O'Neill, who had been watching with Jaffer beside him and a couple of Marines in shouting range if they were needed.

"I'll have to go over the blood tests, Colonel, but aside from being a little battered, he seems to be quite healthy."

"And not an alien?"

"He's _human_," Janet told him. Which _didn't_ mean he was from Earth – although she was fairly certain that they were being told the truth. He knew too many things about the Colonel and Sam for him to be some kind of trap or trick.

"He's not Ian Brooks, though…" came a voice from the doorway. Daniel walked over, holding a small file in his hand. Right beside him came Sam, who looked somber and worried at the same time.

Jack reached for the filet, and Daniel handed it over without argument, looking at the man sitting on the bed who had stopped in the process of putting on his shirt.

"What?" it was Ian who spoke first. "Yes, I am."

"Ian Brooks died last year. In a car wreck." Daniel looked at Jack again. "He was fifteen."

"I was _sixteen_," Ian interrupted, "And I didn't die."

Jack looked up from the file he'd been browsing.

"According to this, you did."

Ian was floored, and it showed, but he was also upset – because whatever source they were getting their information from, it was wrong.

"I'm pretty sure I'd have mentioned it, Jack. I was a bit mangled, but I survived that wreck…"

There it was again; the familiarity that the guy had for O'Neill. Familiar enough that he had no problem calling him by his first name. It was similar to the way Daniel addressed him – and far more familiar than the way Sam talked to him – and he was far more intimate with him than this man was, she was sure. Something was definitely up.

"There must be an explanation, O'Neill," Teal'c said, speaking up for the first time in so long that the others had pretty much forgotten he was there – if you could forget about a huge Jaffa looming in the corner with a yellow lab lounging nearby. "He clearly believes he is who he says he is – and has enough information about you and the rest of the SGC that there must be some truth to his story."

"Maybe someone brainwashed him," Janet suggested.

"I haven't been brainwashed," Ian snapped. "It's got to be something else. Something I'm missing."

He just couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.

Sam cleared her throat, which prompted everyone in the room to look at her.

"It _could_ be something else," she said.

"Like what?" Jack asked.

"If he's really Ian Brooks-"

"He can't be," Daniel objected.

"I am," Ian interjected at the same moment.

"Then it's possible he's from somewhere else."

"I'm from New-" Ian stopped as he realized what she was getting at. He _was_ a genius, after all, just one that was a little off kilter at the moment. "You're talking about a different reality…?"

Sam nodded.

"Yes."


	5. Chapter 5

"An alternate reality?" Jack repeated.

"That's not possible," Daniel said, pretty close to the exact same time.

Sam looked at both of them.

"Why not?"

"Because it's _not_," Daniel said. "He's dead…"

"He's dead _here_," Sam replied.

Jack frowned.

"He's right _there_. He's not dead…"

"In this reality he is, Jack," Carter said. "But he's not from this reality – at least I don't think he is – so he would still be alive from wherever he _is_ from."

Now even Teal'c was looking a little confused, but it was Janet who spoke next.

"If he died here in this reality last year at fifteen-"

"_Sixteen_," Ian corrected, almost automatically.

"Sixteen," Janet amended. "Then he must be lying. _He's_ not seventeen."

Jack and Daniel both looked at Sam, who shrugged.

"If he can hit another reality, then there's no reason he can't slip back into time as well. _We've_ done it."

"In this reality," Jack said.

"In mine, too, actually…" Ian told them.

They all looked at him.

"Really?"

He nodded.

"Yes."

"Did you go, too?"

He shook his head.

"I read the mission debrief."

"He could just be a spy of some sort," Jack said, still a little suspicious – but only because it was in his nature to be. The guy really did know too much about them – and was far too casual with them all, including Jaffer – to be lying about who he was.

Sam shook her head.

"I don't think he is…" She saw that Jack's expression didn't change. "I _don't_."

"Could your machine have brought him here?" O'Neill asked.

She shrugged – again.

"I don't know. I don't think so, but if something happened on his end – some kind of freak solar activity or something that might have played havoc with his wormhole – it's always possible that the two together could have combined to do it."

Now it was Ian's turn to frown.

"Just what were you doing right before I came here?"

"I-"

"That's classified, Colonel," Jack interrupted. "And if you're really who you say you are, then you'll understand that."

The frown turned into a scowl.

"If I don't know what she did, then we're not going to be able to fix it, Jack. If we don't fix it, I don't go home."

Sam hesitated.

"I'm not sure we can get you back. If it was some kind of anomaly on your end, there's no way we can duplicate it and get you back to where you were."

"Wait a minute," Daniel said, interrupting. "How did you get sucked back into the gate to come back to the SGC? I thought-"

"I wasn't gating _out_, Daniel," Ian interrupted. "I was gating in for a conference."

"For a conference?"

"A meeting."

Jack scowled.

"We know what a conference is, Colonel. What kind of conference, and with whom?"

Ian had no reason to lie – although he wasn't ready to tell the full truth and nothing but the truth about where he was from. He just wasn't sure what kind of ramifications there would be – even if it wasn't his own reality. And he was beginning to think that Sam was right. These people were back in time, but they weren't exactly his Sam and Jack and Daniel, either.

"I was supposed to meet with the President."

"Really? About what?"

"Security stuff."

Fraiser gave him a look that said she didn't quite believe him – which wasn't all that surprising, either, really.

"Not a lot of colonels meet with the President."

"Jack has."

"He's different," Daniel said. "He's saved the world."

"So have I."

"Oh."

There was a long silence, and Ian sighed, which hurt his bruised ribs.

"It isn't anything earth shattering," he said. "Just a report on the ongoing battle with the… uh…"

_Now_ he had all their attention, of course, because while he was a lot better at lying than he'd been when he was younger, he wasn't all that great at making up stories off the top of his head – especially when he'd already given away more than he'd intended to.

"With _the_…?" Jack prompted.

"You won't have heard of them…" Ian told them. "They don't become a threat until after we settle Atlantis."

"Atlantis?"

Now, of course, he had Daniel's complete attention – although he'd pretty much already had it.

"Yeah."

"You're talking about the lost city of Atlantis?" Sam asked before Daniel could.

"Actually…" Ian decided that in for a penny, in for a pound. It wasn't his reality, and if he helped them learn a few things before they did in his time and space, then more power to them. "It's an Ancient city in the Pegasus galaxy – which before you ask, is an eight symbol address away from here."

"Ancient as in _old_ or Ancient as in the gate builders?" Daniel asked.

"Gate builders."

"You live in an Ancient city?"

"Yes."

"Under water?"

"No."

"With Ancients?" Sam asked, before Daniel could.

"No. They don't live there. Most of them have-"

"_Moved on_," Jack finished. "Yeah, we already knew that."

Ian suddenly sat up straighter.

_"Dotty…"_

Jack frowned.

"Dotty?"

"Shawn's mom. Jesus, why didn't I think of that before? _She_ could help."

Hadn't her and Alexander hijacked his gate in his own reality, taking him to another one?

"How did you know about Dotty?" Jack asked.

"How can Dotty help?" Sam asked, equally confused – although she figured Ian knew about Dotty the same way he knew about everything else about them.

"Because she's Ancient," Ian said, hopping off the table. "We need to go talk to her."


	6. Chapter 6

As if it hadn't been crazy enough before, now things had just crossed over into impossible.

"What?"

Jack was sure he hadn't heard right, and Brooks looked surprised at his reaction.

"You mean you _didn't_ know?"

"Didn't know that Dotty Adams is an _Ancient_?" Jack asked. "Are you nuts?"

"There's no way she can be an Ancient," Daniel said. "She's Shawn's mom."

"I know."

"But then…"

"Yeah, _Shawn's_ Ancient, too – although he doesn't know it. At least he didn't know it in my reality, anyway. She might have told him here."

Ian was beyond worrying about what was going to happen to these folks from learning all this from him instead of through the regular course of time. It was already so different from his own reality that he couldn't see any way to make it all back to normal. Not to mention he was _dead_ here, which meant that when the Ashrak came looking for Shawn at the Air Force Academy, the only one there would be River – and River wasn't the one who saved Shawn in his reality.

"Shawn's Ancient?" Jack asked, skeptically – although Sam was just looking more and more stunned with ach passing moment. Ian felt a little guilty about that.

"Half Ancient."

"And half what else?" Daniel asked. "Human?"

"Yes."

"He's not a _trap_ is he?" Jack asked, worried, now, and Ian knew he was worried about Shawn – and probably thinking about Cassandra when she was a child.

"No."

"I don't understand why Dotty would be living on Earth around humans if she had the choice to be somewhere else," Sam said. "It's crazy."

"It's true, though," Ian told her. "She might be able to help – although I'm not sure she will…"

"Does she know about the Stargate?" Jack asked, curiously.

"Does _Shawn_ know about it?" Ian asked, trying to get some kind of idea what time frame they were in compared to what he knew of their past – at least the past of the people in his own reality.

Jack looked chagrined.

"Yeah."

"And he knows about Thor?"

"Yeah."

"Does Andrew?"

Again Jack was chagrined, but he nodded.

"I let that one out of the bag myself."

Ian nodded.

"Under the snow after the avalanche, right?"

Another sign that he was who he said he was, because there were even fewer people who could have guessed that then could have guessed that Jack and Sam had fooled around during the Capture the Flag game at camp.

Jack nodded, again.

"Yes."

"I'm pretty sure she knows about the Stargate," Ian told them. "I'm also pretty sure she knows that Shawn knows about it – but he almost certainly doesn't know that she knows about it or about him working with you and the Asgard."

"What do the Asgard have planned in regards to Shawn Adams?" Teal'c asked, suddenly.

Which was a question Jack hadn't thought to ask, but definitely wanted the answer to.

"It's complicated," Ian replied.

"Is it dangerous?" Jack asked.

"No. And it won't hurt him to learn what he's learning – just keep a close eye on them. They're not all as helpful as Thor."

"Which means what?"

"Which means that some of them are desperate enough to do stupid things – but that's not really something you need to worry about. Thor can watch Shawn."

It wasn't like they were going to snatch Shawn out of his bed like Loki had grabbed him, after all.

"But-"

"I need to talk to Dotty, Jack," Ian interrupted.

"What if she won't help you?" Sam asked.

Ian shrugged.

"Then we'll do it ourselves."

But Sam noticed that as confident as his words were, there was a definite anxiety in his expression and tone.

OOOOOOOOOO

"You did _what_?"

Rodney McKay shook his head, holding his hand up in an appeal for Cassie to not go bonkers on him.

"_I_ didn't do anything, Cassie," he said, quickly. "There was some kind of problem on the other end – _Earth's_ end. We're still waiting to hear from General Hunt, but if I had to guess I'd say there was some kind of solar activity that we couldn't have possibly anticipated when Ian gated back to Earth."

"And now he's gone – and there's no way of knowing where?"

"He's not on Earth, no," McKay told her. "But if we can figure out what happened to throw his wormhole off kilter, then there's always a chance I can figure out where it went. Maybe."

"How much of a chance?"

"I don't know. Fifty-fifty? Maybe less, maybe more? It depends on what happened, and we don't know that, yet. I need to get to SGC and find out – but we're waiting for gate diagnostics on this end, and on theirs before we allow anymore stargate travel. For obvious reasons."

"How long will that take?"

"A couple of hours."

"And then what?"

"I find out what happened, and get him back."

He sounded so confident that Cassandra couldn't help but believe him. She hoped it would be that easy, but she was pretty certain it wouldn't be.

Rodney was a genius, yes, but so was Ian – and _he_ hadn't figured out a way to get himself back home, yet. Otherwise he'd be there.


	7. Chapter 7

"Look, Colonel…" Jack began. "We can't just go charging up to Dotty's house and start interrogating her. Who knows how she'd react to that – assuming she really _is_ an Ancient."

"She is," Ian said, distracted. He was already trying to figure out what kind of machine Sam could have been using to screw with the wormhole – or at least the gravitational field around the Earth or SGC – that could have brought him into such a situation. "Is it a power distribution device?" he asked Sam, who was startled at the question.

"How did-"

"Dotty's not going to be happy," Jack interrupted. "What if she flips out or something?"

"She's not going to, Jack," Ian told him. "She won't do anything to mess with Shawn's future."

"What does that have to do with _this_?" Daniel asked before O'Neill could.

"Nothing."

"Then how do you know that-"

"Let's focus on _this_ right now, can we?" Ian asked, impatiently.

"No. We can focus on why Dotty won't kill me the minute she realizes that her secret is out in the open."

The way he said it made Ian quite aware that they weren't going to go anywhere until he answered the question to Jack's satisfaction.

"You know…" Sam said. "If she's really an Ancient, we could use her help with the Goa'uld."

"And everyone else," Daniel added.

"Unless she's not willing to help," Jack replied. "Or, of course, she decides to take measures to keep us from asking for her help…"

Again he looked at Ian, waiting for some kind of reassurance.

Knowing he was just going to throw yet another bombshell into what was already a complicated – and confusing – situation, Ian answered him with the truth. He really wanted to go home – and wasn't going to be able to get started on that problem until Jack had all his answers, apparently. Which was exactly the Jack he knew so well, so it wasn't that surprising.

"Remember when you got your head stuck in the Ancient repository of knowledge?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, not only did they stick their memories in your brain, but they took stock of your situation, decided you were as likely a candidate as they were going to find and stole a sample of your DNA."

"What?" Sam frowned. "Why would they do that?"

"Because they're trying to solve a problem – and Shawn's the answer. But only if he has a human father."

"An _Ancient_ problem?" Sam asked, curiously.

Ian shook his head.

"Asgard. Dotty's Asgard, too – although it's so far back in her bloodlines that it's diluted. Mostly she's Ancient."

"Then Shawn Adams is also part Asgard," Teal'c said, more of a statement than a question.

"Yes."

"Wait a minute," Sam said, frowning. "You said they wanted Shawn to have a human father, right?"

Ian wasn't surprised she'd figured it out. She was a genius, after all.

"Yes."

"Then Jack-"

"He _has_ a human father," Jack interrupted, realizing where things were going almost as quickly as Sam had. He only pretended to be dumb, after all. "James."

"Dotty was pregnant when she married James," Ian told him. "At least I think she was. She might have already had Shawn by then. Whatever it was, James isn't Shawn's real father. You are."

He'd expected it, but he couldn't believe it.

"That's not possible, Colonel. I got my head stuck in that thing a few years ago. Shawn's-"

"Dotty was sent back into time to make sure she had him at the right time that he'd be perfect age to meet you at camp," Ian interrupted. "The Ancients can do that when they need to – which is why we need to go talk to her, to see if she can get me _ahead_ in time…"

"And into a different reality…" Daniel added, with a tone of voice that plainly said he didn't think that was going to happen quite as easily as Ian Brooks was hoping it would.

Ian nodded.

"Yeah."

"I can't be Shawn's dad," Jack said, looking like he needed to sit down. Jaffer whined softly and licked Jack's hand – and was rewarded with a caress that made both of them feel better.

"He looks just like you," Ian told him.

"No he doesn't."

"Yes, he does," Sam disagreed. She'd thought they looked alike before, but figured it was just the general appearances; brown hair and eyes, that sort of thing. But Shawn's eyes were identical to Jack's, now that she allowed herself to believe there was a reason for it.

Even Teal'c nodded agreement to that – and Daniel was looking at Jack with an expression none of them could read. Probably waiting to see him freak out or something. It wasn't coming, though. Jack was too stunned by the disclosure – and obviously unable to come up with any more objections. At least not just then.

"Why do they need him to know Jack, though?" Daniel asked. "If they just needed a human father for him-"

"Because Jack will get Shawn into the Air Force academy – and then Shawn will be military and be in perfect position to be in on the Asgard problem when they finally reveal it. Of course, none of them knew that he was going to discover the Asgard on his own long before he was even old enough to shave. He wouldn't have found out about them, though, without having met Jack, so I suppose it's all relative."

"_Everything's_ relative with you here," Sam pointed out with a slight smile.

Ian nodded.

"I know."

"Do you think Dotty will be able to help you?" Jack asked.

"I hope so."

"Then I'll go get her and bring her here."

Hopefully.

"It'd be easier for me to go there…"

"Except I don't think Hammond would approve of letting you off the base so quickly – and I'd agree with him. You stay here and maybe Sam can help you figure out what happened exactly so you're ready to tell Dotty what you need."

He looked over at Carter to see if she had an objection to that, but she simply nodded. A visitor from the future – _and_ from a different reality? Who would pass that up?

"_I'll_ go with you, Jack," Daniel offered.

The chance to talk to an actual _Ancient_? Who would pass that up?

O'Neill nodded.

"Fine. Let's go talk to Hammond, first."


	8. Chapter 8

"I'll be back as soon as I have something to tell you," Rodney McKay promised, packing his laptop into its sleeve and then attaching it to his pack.

"Are you _sure_ it's safe?" John Sheppard asked, frowning. "We don't really have that many more geniuses we can spare if something goes wrong…"

McKay's expression was pained, but he nodded and looked over at Cassandra Brooks, who was standing beside Sheppard.

"General Hunt's techs checked their end and I've checked our side twice. I'll be fine."

The implication there was that he wouldn't be going through the stargate to Earth if it wasn't safe.

"Sure you don't want to take a gun?" Sheppard asked. "Just in case?"

Now he was just screwing with him, and while normally it'd be entertaining – and touching, since it was Sheppard's way of dealing with his concern about McKay – this time it wasn't quite so funny.

"Nothing's going to happen," he repeated. "Dial it up."

Sheppard looked over to the gate technician, who started dialing Earth, and Cassie moved with Rodney when he headed for the stairs.

"I could come…"

"You need to stay here with the boys," McKay told her. "Tell them we'll be back soon."

If it had been almost anyone else, he'd have just said that he didn't need her – and she didn't have the qualifications to accompany him, anyway. Which would have been the truth. But it wasn't. He liked Cassie, and wouldn't have hurt her feelings for anything. Besides, she had every reason to be worried. He was worried, too.

The gate flared and he waited until the tech nodded, saying he'd sent the IDC for McKay.

"Good luck, Rodney," Sheppard told him.

He nodded, looked back at Cassie one more time and headed through the gate.

OOOOOOOOOO

A moment later he emerged, and was greeted by a larger group than he really expected. Hunt was there, of course, as were several of SGC's top gate experts. Standing beside Hunt, however, was one of the last people McKay expected to see – but when he did he felt a wave of relief wash through him. Not a lot of people knew the true nature of President O'Neill's friend Jim, but McKay did – and the Ancient could be very helpful when it came to figuring out where Ian Brooks had ended up. Which was probably why Jack had sent him out.

"Doctor McKay," Hunt said by way of greeting. "Here's your team. There's a lab at your disposal and our people have compiled lists of every solar flare and other possible gravitational anomalies that might have had something to do with Colonel Brooks' disappearance. That's at your disposal as well, of course."

"And the gate diagnostics?" McKay asked.

Hunt nodded.

"Being fed into the computers in the lab as we speak. Jim here will be joining you – I didn't think you'd mind."

"Not at all." McKay gave Jim a slight nod as a greeting and the Ancient bowed slightly back.

"President O'Neill is concerned, as I am sure you deduced," Jim told him. "He wishes us good luck."

McKay didn't respond to that. He'd already said his hellos and didn't have time for small talk just then. He looked at the group assembled, decided that they would do – since no one else was available (Jim being the definite exception there, since he was very welcomed) – and rubbed his hands together.

"Let's get to work, then, shall we?" he asked.

The others nodded and they led the way to the lab.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"I had General Hammond send the stargate logs down to the computer in my lab," Sam told Ian Brooks as they walked out of the infirmary with Teal'c behind them – just in case this person was an imposter, although Teal'c was pretty much convinced he was who he said he was. "There should be a record of any kind of solar activity, or gravitational anomalies that happened at the same time I activated my device – and you gated to Earth."

"Are they going to bring your device down here, too?" Ian asked.

Sam nodded.

"I honestly don't think it's responsible for this," she told him. "But since we won't know for sure until we run some tests, I figured we could try to rule that out first."

"Good. Thanks."

He realized that this Sam wasn't all that much older than he was – and it was weird for him to see her as a peer here instead of as a mentor, which was what she really was to him. At least, that was what the Sam in his own reality was.

"You're welcome."

"I'll need my bag, too," Ian said. "The one I had with me when I crashed into the gate room."

She looked over at him a little guiltily.

"General Hammond's having it checked out. We won't be able to get it until he's satisfied that there's nothing threatening in it."

Ian scowled.

"He won't be able to read any of the data files I brought with me – the technology is higher level than what you guys are using right now."

Sam nodded.

"I suppose that's to be expected."

They walked into her lab, and Ian was surprised to see that it was actually a bit different than the one he'd remembered her using. Same room, but a lot of different items and other doohickeys – not to mention several pictures of a little girl with blonde hair and a brilliant smile. From infancy to somewhere in the toddler stage, she looked vaguely familiar, but he knew it wasn't anyone he'd ever seen before.

"One of your nieces?" he asked, looking at the picture she had sitting on her desk. He was surprised to see it was the girl with Jack and Sam both – almost a family portrait, only far more casual.

Sam frowned, suddenly a little wary.

"No… that's Danielle. My daughter."


	9. Chapter 9

Ian's eyebrows rose in surprise and he looked back down at the picture. She looked a lot like Jack – same brown eyes and everything – but he knew she couldn't be Sam's.

"You don't have a daughter named Danielle," he told her, reaching out and picking up the picture.

Sam frowned, and took the picture from him.

"You know about our… um… romp during the Capture the Flag game, but not about the end result of it?"

"That pregnancy didn't come full term, Sam," Ian told her. "At least, it didn't in my reality. You lost the baby – an Ectopic pregnancy. Your oldest is a _boy_…"

Sam looked stricken, which made Ian feel guilty once more. She looked down at the picture.

"She's not alive in your world?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"I'm sorry. From what I heard, you and Jack were both devastated. I didn't know you guys, then."

"Danielle is alive and well in _this_ reality, Major Carter," Teal'c said, speaking up. His voice was calm and still managed to be reassuring. "That is what matters."

"She's cute, Sam," Ian added.

Carter nodded, putting the picture back on her desk.

"I wonder what else is different," she mused, clearly trying to change the subject.

Ian complied.

"Well… where I'm from you and Jack are _married_."

Sam smiled.

"We're married _here_, too."

"Teal'c called you Major Carter."

"I didn't change my last name," Sam told him. "General Hammond knows we're married – and I'm sure the President does as well – but we decided it would be a little less blatant if I didn't take Jack's name, at least not _yet_. I will some day – and Danielle has it, just to keep things from getting too complicated."

"Oh."

"What about you?" she asked, looking down at the wedding band on his hand. "Married?"

"Yes."

"Anyone I know?"

Ian flushed a little.

"Yes."

Of course, Cassandra would be somewhere around her early teens here, which might make things a little awkward. A _lot_ awkward, actually. So he wouldn't mention her name unless he was forced to – and it'd take a _lot_ to force it out of him.

Sam looked interested, but when he didn't mention who it was, she respected his wish to keep it private, figuring he had his reasons and they were probably good ones.

"Any children?"

"Twin boys. Carter and Michael."

"_Carter_, huh?"

He smiled.

"I told you we know each other."

"And I have a son in your reality?" she asked, picking up on what he'd said earlier.

He nodded.

"Yes."

"Named Ian?"

Now he chuckled.

"No. Although you did toy with the idea of naming your daughter _Brook_ – until Jack vetoed it."

Sam smiled.

"Another daughter?"

"She's adorable." He confirmed.

"Any others I need to know about?"

He shook his head.

"I'm not that sure I should have told you about the ones I did," he admitted.

Carter shrugged.

"I can't imagine that it would have much affect on our timeline here. From what little we've discussed our realities aren't identical so the timelines will vary as well."

"Especially since you are dead in this reality," Teal'c said, helpfully.

"Thanks for reminding me," Ian said, dryly.

"You are welcome."

This Teal'c wasn't as good at recognizing sarcasm as Ian's was.

That brought up another issue, though. If he was dead in this reality – and it was obvious he _was_ – then how were these guys going to get a lot of the technology that he and Sam had worked so hard on in his own reality? There was a chance they'd still be able to figure it out, but none of them had the Ancient knowledge in their heads like he did.

Of course, he wasn't around to force Dotty and James to go to New York, either, he reminded himself, feeling a pang of the guilt he'd felt when Shawn's mom and dad had died. They wouldn't die in _this_ reality, and Dotty might be the one to help with the technology – and maybe even with the Asgard solution, for that matter.

Maybe.

Unless she had other ideas about it.

"Are you all right?" Sam asked, catching his change of mood rather easily.

He looked over and saw she was watching him with concern.

"I'm fine," he said, nodding. "Just realizing how different this place is compared to my own." He shook his head to clear it and picked up the picture again. "_Danielle_, huh? Not Danielle Teal'c?"

Sam smiled and shook her head.

"Danielle _Janet_."

"That's a good name," he told her.

"I'm glad you approve."

He smiled again and put the picture down.

"We'd better get to work."

The sooner they figured it out, the sooner he could go home.

OOOOOOOOOO

The Adams' house looked exactly the same as it always had. The same cars would be in the driveway – except that James was at work so his Jeep was gone – the same little boat parked where it could be easily accessible for the trips to the lake that James and Shawn would take every other weekend or so once summer arrived. The house itself was freshly painted and Shawn had mowed the lawn just the day before, so it looked well kept and tidy. Which it was.

"How are you going to play this?" Daniel asked as they pulled into the driveway beside the boat.

Jack shrugged.

"I don't have a clue."

"You can't just come out and accuse her of being an alien," Daniel said.

"I'm not going to _accuse_ her of anything," Jack snapped.

"You're just going to mention that if she is an alien we could really use her help…?"

"_You're_ not helping."

"Sorry."

Jack sighed and got out of the truck, holding the door for Jaffer, who jumped out far more eagerly. He liked going to Shawn's!

"Stay with me, Little Man," Jack told his lab, even though he knew Dotty wasn't going to do anything to hurt Jaffer. It was just habit to keep him close in an uncertain situation.

He rang the bell as Daniel caught up to him, and after a very short wait Dotty answered the door, looking surprised to see him. Which made sense since it was a school day and Shawn wasn't home. Jack didn't come by to talk to Dotty very often. She smiled, though, and opened the door.

"Jack, Daniel! What a surprise."

Jaffer nudged her with a plea for attention and Dotty complied with true affection for the lab.

"Hi, Dotty."

"Shawn's at school, Jack…"

Her expression was curious, though, because she knew he knew that.

"I know. We actually came by to talk to you."

Dotty gave Jaffer a final pat and righted herself.

"Come on in, then. I'll make some coffee."


	10. Chapter 10

_Author's note: This one is a little short. Mainly because I wanted to get you guys something out since I took the weekend off to go to my brother's wedding in Oregon. Another coming as soon as possible._

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jack and Daniel sat down. Jaffer followed Dotty into the kitchen, well aware that he could charm her into some kind of treat if he used his best _I'm starving_ look. It worked on everyone, after all. Sure enough, he followed her out a moment later with a large bone in his mouth, looking pleased with himself and the world in general.

"It's brewing," Dotty said, taking a seat on the chair across from Jack. "Now, what can I do for you two?"

Jack cleared his throat, trying to figure out how to start the conversation.

"Do you know a guy named Ian Brooks?" he finally asked.

"_Colonel_ Ian Brooks," Daniel added.

She shook her head.

"No. Should I?"

"He claims to know you," Jack told her.

"Really? I can't imagine how he'd know me, Jack."

She looked genuinely puzzled and O'Neill looked over at Daniel, who shrugged. Jack decided to take the plunge and see what kind of reaction he got – if any.

"He says you're an Ancient."

He wasn't disappointed. She actually choked – and paled for just a moment before she managed to catch herself.

"A what?" she asked, trying to cover her mistake.

Jack was trained to look for that kind of thing, though, and he wasn't fooled. The glimmer of belief that he'd had for Ian Brooks' crazy story flared up a little more brightly in his mind.

"An Ancient," Daniel supplied before Jack could say anything. "They're, um…"

"Aliens," Jack told her, his eyes never leaving hers. "He's right, isn't he?"

She shook her head, flustered.

"I don't-"

"Dotty, if you are just _say_ you are. We already know the story."

"What story?"

"The one about Shawn being Jack's son," Daniel supplied.

Now her eyes narrowed, and Jack wondered if he should be worried about an attack or something. Jaffer whined softly from where he was gnawing on his bone and her expression softened, marginally.

"Who is this Ian Brooks?" she asked.

"Is it true?"

She shook her head.

"It's a long story, Jack…"

Daniel whistled softly.

"Then it _is_ true…."

She scowled.

"Tell me about Ian Brooks, Jack."

"Tell me about _Shawn_, first," O'Neill countered. "What are you planning on doing to him?"

Her scowl turned into a confused frown.

"Do to him? Nothing. He's my son. I'd never do anything to hurt him."

"What about-"

"Look," she interrupted. "It's a long story. But it has nothing to do with the Stargate program or SCG. It's something else, entirely."

"So you do know about SGC…"

She hesitated and then nodded.

"Yes. I know about the Stargate."

"And the Asgard?"

"Yes."

"Are you really part Asgard?" Daniel asked.

She spun around to look at him so quickly Daniel actually flinched with surprise.

"How did you know that?"

"Ian Brooks told us," he replied.

"Tell me about him," she said – again.

"Sam thinks he's from an alternate reality," Jack told her. "I think at first he thought he was from the future, but apparently he's dead here – died in a car crash a couple of years ago."

"At the age of sixteen," Daniel added.

"But he's got to be in his mid thirties," Jack contributed. "He thinks that you might be able to help him get back to his own reality."

Dotty frowned.

"How am I supposed to do that?"

The two men shrugged, looking equally baffled.

"Sam's pretty smart," Jack reminded her. "Between the two of you you should be able to figure something out…"

"Hopefully…" Daniel said, looking about as confident as Jack felt.

"I doubt that. It's one thing for the Stargate to throw someone back in time – it's happened before – but I've never heard of anyone going to a different reality."

"But it's possible?" Jack asked.

She hesitated, but finally nodded.

"I suppose so. We know they _do_ exist."

"We who?" Daniel asked. "The Ancients?"

She scowled.

"I don't hang out with them, Daniel. I'm sorry, I know you're hoping to find out a lot of new and exciting things from me, but even though I do have a lot of technology at my command that you people at the SGC don't, it doesn't mean I'm going to be able to help you all that much."

"But you'll try?" Jack asked.

"Will you let me speak to this Ian Brooks?"

Jack nodded.

"You'll probably have to."

"Then I'll do what I can to help him."

Her tone had all sorts of connotations that Jack couldn't even begin to sort out, but he nodded again and stood up.

"Let's go, then."


	11. Chapter 11

"So what do you have so far?"

McKay sighed as he looked at the video screen. On the other end of the conversation were Sam and Jack O'Neill – both looking worried and tired, and not at all hopeful.

"At the same time Ian gated back to Earth, there was a convergence of a couple of solar flares. We're pretty sure that they interrupted the gravitational field of his wormhole and kicked him to another gate."

The president frowned.

"Which one?"

"Not just _any_ Stargate, Jack," _Jim_ said, stepping closer to the camera that McKay was looking into. "We believe it is much more serious than that. If Colonel Brooks had been sent to another planet, he would have undoubtedly dialed his way back to Atlantis – or here to his original destination."

"You think he was sent back in time?" Sam asked, figuring out what they were saying quickly. No big surprise there.

"I think it's a possibility," McKay answered. "But Chelani thinks it's more serious than that, too…"

"How so?" Sam asked.

"We do not believe that he could have been sent more than twenty years back into time, Jack," _Jim_ replied. "And he almost certainly would have made it back to _this_ Stargate."

"And none of you have ever mentioned him coming from the future," Rodney added. "Which leads us to believe that it never happened…"

He waited long enough for one of them to admit that it actually _had_ happened, but they both shook their heads.

"Not as long as I've been there," Jack said. "And not before then."

"So what are you thinking, Jim?" Sam asked, frowning.

"I believe that something else was acting on the wormhole as well – something that sent him not only into the past, but perhaps into an alternate reality as well."

There was a long pause, and it was finally Jack who spoke up first.

"Do you agree with that, McKay?" he asked.

Rodney hesitated, but then nodded.

"It's the only explanation."

"How do we find him?"

It was _Jim_ who replied.

"The solar flares that came into contact with the wormhole were from a different sun than your own – which is why the safety protocols didn't alert any of us of the solar activity. Which means that they were not as powerful as they would have been coming from this sun."

"How does that help?" Jack asked, confused.

"Because ironically enough," McKay said, speaking up before Jim could. "Ian and I had a discussion about this exact thing a few years back. We did some research on the idea and we made a tracking program that might help. We _know_ about alternate realities. The Ancients used them frequently at times in the past – remember they used one when they hijacked Ian's wormhole and stuck those memories into his head. _We_ can use that knowledge – in the form of Chelani here – to get at least a general idea of which reality he went to."

Jack looked even more confused – if it was possible – but Sam actually leaned forward, looking a little more animated.

"Do you think it'll work?" she asked the Ancient, knowing that if she asked Rodney he'd immediately say yes.

_Jim_ nodded.

"It's possible."

"And it's really the only thing we've got," McKay added, unable to allow them to leave him out of the conversation.

"Then do it," Jack told them.

"But keep us informed," Sam added.

"Will do," McKay told them, already turning from the screen.

_Jim_ hesitated a moment longer, uncertainly, but then he followed McKay.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Is Hammond done with my bag, yet?"

Sam smiled.

"I'll ask."

"_I_ will go ask," Teal'c offered.

Without waiting for either of them to agree, he turned and left the room, leaving Sam and Ian alone with the device that Sam had been explaining to him.

"So you were trying to access _vacuum energy_ to boost the power of your gate?" Ian asked, torn between disbelief and awe.

Sam nodded, uncertain about his expression.

"Crazy, huh?"

He smiled at the sheepish expression on her face.

"Amazing, actually," he told her. "Years ahead of the rest of us."

"You mean it'll work?"

"It worked ten thousand years ago."

She frowned.

"Then I'm not years ahead. I'm millennium behind."

"Not so much." He looked at the draft she'd handed him when she'd introduced him to her new device. "This thing is brilliant, Sam."

"Aside from the whole _pulling you into an alternate reality_ thing, huh?"

"Well, there is that."

Before she could reply to that, the door opened. Expecting to see Teal'c, they both turned.

"So what did-"

Ian stopped when Jaffer came through the door, wagging his tail cheerfully. Right behind him came Daniel, and then Jack. Following Jack was the person Ian had hoped most to see – and at the same time had been the most afraid to meet here.

"Jesus…"

He knew she was really there, but it had been too much to hope for. She looked exactly like he remembered – even pretty close to the same age.

Dotty Adams frowned.

"You must be Ian Brooks."


	12. Chapter 12

_Author's note: So… not as many reviews as at the beginning. Just want to make sure this isn't boring… let me know, okay? If it's getting dull, I need to know. Thanks!_

OOOOOOOOO

It was very rare that Ian found himself speechless, but looking at Dotty – who looked exactly the same as she did the day he'd convinced her to take the trip to New York that had ended so dreadfully – he found his throat closing tight around a lump that felt as large as the Big Apple itself. After his initial surprised curse, there didn't seem to be anything he could say.

Finally, he managed a nod, but nothing would come when he opened his mouth.

"Ian?"

Sam and the others couldn't have missed his reaction, and it had Carter worried.

He shook his head, not taking his eyes off Dotty, who was watching him with an expression that went from impatient to unreadable in a very short time.

"We know each other?" she asked him, knowing the answer already since Jack had told her just that.

"Yes," he managed to croak.

She frowned.

"Not _intimately_, though…?"

Which was enough to shock him out of his temporary paralysis.

"No. You're Shawn's mom."

She looked over at Jack, whose expression was just as unreadable as hers had been.

"And _you_ know what I am?"

"Yes." He shook his head again, this time to clear it. "I need your help."

"Jack told me what happened," she told him, her own tone changing, too, now. "I just don't know what you think I can do about it…"

"In _my_ reality, you and Alexander hijacked my wormhole and took me to another reality to-"

_"Alexander?"_

She couldn't have looked more stunned if he'd hit her in the back of the head with a fire truck.

Now it was Ian's turn to glance over at Jack, and then down at Jaffer, who wagged his tail, idly. That particular relationship wasn't something he planned on telling _anyone_ – not even in this reality – so he looked back at her and nodded.

"Yes."

When he didn't elaborate further – and judging from the concern in her expression she fully expected him to – she finally relaxed a little.

"Who's Alexander?" Daniel asked, noticing the reaction – and the lack of response from Ian Brooks.

"He's another Ancient," Ian told him.

"More knowledgeable than I am, unfortunately," Dotty added. "I'm not sure I can do anything to help you, Ian Brooks. I don't have a lot of technology at my command. _My_ goal on this planet wasn't to advance their level of technology."

"I know. I don't _need_ your technology – I already have that – I just need your knowledge. They sent you into the past to have Shawn, you must know something about how it happened…"

"We had to calculate the gravitational flood of a-"

"You know how to do it?" he interrupted.

"I know how to send someone back into time, yes," she told him, apparently not annoyed at the interruption. "I'm not sure I can send someone into the future."

"It doesn't have to be far," Ian told her. "But I need to figure out the _where_."

"How are you going to do that?" Sam asked, curiously. "The possibility of finding the correct reality – even if we can figure out a way to get you into the future – is staggering. There must be millions of different realities."

"And then some," Ian agreed.

"Then how do you intend to-"

"I made a program," Ian interrupted. "A tracking program. Rodney and I were discussing what we'd do – theoretically – if something like this ever happened. I never actually thought it would."

"Rodney?" Daniel asked.

"McKay."

Jack scowled.

"You're kidding. McKay's in _your_ reality?"

"I'm pretty sure he's in a lot of them, Jack," Ian told him, reasonably.

Which only made the scowl deepen.

"You were saying?" Dotty asked, bringing the attention back to where it was supposed to be.

"McKay and I were talking about what we'd do. We made a program, using some of the Ancient technology on Atlantis to give us the raw data, and figured out-"

"You've been to Atlantis?"

"I _live_ there."

Dotty shook her head.

"This is impossible."

"It's true," Ian replied. "Daniel here figured out where it was and we found it. Now it's a base of operations in the Pegasus system that-"

"And the Asgard?" she asked, interrupting him.

"What about them?"

"Did we fix their problem? Does it work?"

He hesitated.

"Their problem's fixed, but it's too late to use Shawn in the manner you want to. The Ancients should have told them about your line centuries ago. I can't imagine why they waited so long."

"We had to be sure the Asgard couldn't fix it themselves. They never asked for help."

"There's not a lot of you around to _ask_, now, are there?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"If Shawn isn't the answer, how did the problem get solved?"

"I didn't say he wasn't the answer," Ian said. "I just said it was too late to use him the way you wanted to."

"But in your reality the Asgard are okay?"

"They're on their way to it."

"What-"

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Jack interrupted, annoyed. "What's wrong with the Asgard?"

"They're fucked up genetically, Jack," Ian told him, figuring he might as well know, and Dotty probably wasn't going to tell him. "They reproduce by cloning themselves, and they've made too many copies of the copies to make the clones viable."

Sam frowned.

"Really?"

Jack looked over at Dotty, who was looking at Ian. She nodded, finally.

"They once looked much like yourselves, Jack. But that was long ago. _How_ did _you_ solve the problem, Ian Brooks?"

"You help me solve my problem, and I'll solve yours."

Dotty's gaze never left his, and he knew she was trying to figure out if he was sincere. Since he was, and he knew it, he simply watched her, waiting for her to decide if he was telling the truth. Finally she nodded.

"Very well. I'll give you all the help I can."


	13. Chapter 13

Dotty left almost immediately. She wasn't needed there – at least not yet – and all of her gadgets and gizmos that might help her with Ian's problem were all at her house. Jack left with her to arrange a ride for her, leaving Sam and Daniel alone with Ian. There was a very familiar look in Daniel's expression and Ian knew he was going to start asking questions as soon as he'd organized them in his mind.

Before he could, however, Teal'c returned. Carrying Ian's bag.

"The security team has declared this to be free of any risk to this facility," the Jaffa told him, handing it over. "They could not access your technology, however."

"I knew they wouldn't be able to," he said, taking the bag from Teal'c and setting it on Sam's workbench. "It's _coded_."

"The brightest minds in the world work here," Sam told him.

Ian's smile was smug.

"I know. They do in the future, too."

Her own smile was slightly chagrined.

"Good point."

He opened his bag and pulled out his laptop, with the three of them watching with interest. Daniel looked a little disappointed when it didn't look much different than his own. He'd expected something a little more futuristic looking, he supposed.

"So what do you do in the future, Colonel Brooks?" he finally asked, figuring that was as good a place to start as any.

"You can call me Ian," Ian replied. "I'm certainly not going to call you Mr. Jackson." He turned on his laptop, but while he was waiting for it to power up he answered Daniel's question. There really wasn't any reason not to. "I suppose you could call me the training officer for Atlantis," he said.

"The tech people or the military people?" Sam asked. She had a feeling he was comfortable around both.

"Usually military," he answered. "McKay prefers to brief the techs himself – and he's a bit more patient with them than I am."

"We're talking about _Rodney_ McKay?" Sam asked, frowning.

He smiled.

"Yeah, you didn't like him all that much when I met you, come to think of it. I suppose there's no big shock that you don't think much of him, now…"

"He's pretty arrogant," Daniel said, trying to be as diplomatic as he could.

"That he is."

"And you really live in Atlantis?"

"Yes."

"What's it like?" Sam asked.

He gave a nonchalant shrug.

"You've seen one Ancient flying city, you've seen them all…"

Sam smiled, knowing he was messing with her.

"_Flying city_?" Daniel asked, missing the joke, completely. Not much of a surprise there; he was far more interested in the Ancients than Sam was. "It flies?"

"At the moment, it _floats_," Ian told him. "But it _can_ fly, yes."

"And I discovered it, you say?"

"As far as I understand it, you had some help, but for the most part it was you, yes."

"Way to go, Daniel," Sam congratulated him.

He smiled.

"What of the Jaffa in your time, Ian Brooks?" Teal'c asked. His face was expressionless, but Ian knew he was curious.

"There are a lot more free ones than not," Ian told him, pulling a cord out and plugging it into the laptop. "And more rebelling every day."

"That is good to hear."

Ian looked up from what he was doing.

"It's good to see, too."

"What are you going to do?" Sam asked, changing the subject before the guys could ask more questions. Not that it wasn't fascinating, but she was more interested in the technology Ian had brought with him. Every little bit helped, and they had a lot of enemies. Who knew what she might learn just looking over his shoulder?

"I'm going to interface with your device and see what kind of pull it gave the wormhole," he explained, more than willing to explain – especially to her. "Then I'll have a little bit more to go on when I get into my tracking program."

"Anything I can do to help?"

He shook his head.

"Just watch what I'm doing with your machine to make sure I don't do something that might blow us up."

She smiled.

"I think we'll be okay."

But she did watch, because while she knew he was joking, there was also the chance that he might actually make a wrong move dealing with something he'd never used before. She'd spent a long time working on that device, and didn't want it messed it.

By the time Jack returned, the two of them were deep into their work, Daniel was bored but unwilling to leave and maybe miss something. Teal'c had left to finish some project of his own. O'Neill watched them for a minute, as Ian was explaining something that sounded incredibly complicated to Sam, but he didn't have a clue what they were discussing – which wasn't that big of a shock, really.

"Should we leave them alone?" he asked Jaffer, sitting in a chair and scratching the big lab's ears affectionately as he watched Sam.

Jaffer wagged his tail, but he didn't make a move to the door. His eyes were on Sam, too, and Jack wondered – not for the first time – what was going on inside his baby's head.

"You want to stay?" he asked, softly.

Jaffer rumbled deep in his chest, cheerfully. It was as close to a yes as Jack was going to get, he knew.

"Do _I_ need to stay?"

The lab wagged his tail, showing no signs of mistrust as he and Jack turned their attention to Ian Brooks instead of Sam. Obviously he didn't want to stay to keep an eye on Sam. Jack shrugged and slapped his shoulder, standing up.

"Well, campers…" he said, drawing their attention. "If you need me call. I've got more interesting things to do.

Like watch paint dry.

They went back to what they were doing, and Daniel was the only one who watched him leave.


	14. Chapter 14

Several hours later Hammond walked into Sam's lab with Janet Fraiser. Ian Brooks and Sam were both fiddling with the device Carter had built, but the general could tell by the slump of Carter's shoulders that something wasn't working the way they wanted it to. Brooks was harder to read, since Hammond didn't know him. Daniel was sprawled on a small cot that Carter kept in her lab – in the off chance that she needed to stay late working on something that needed watching – and Jaffer was gnawing on a rawhide chew that Jack had brought him to keep him from annoying Sam and Ian.

"How's it going?" Hammond asked as they entered.

Carter looked up, startled, but then shook her head.

"It's not going to work, sir."

"What isn't?" he asked, walking over to look at the device. It looked okay to him.

"Her device is incompatible with my laptop," Ian answered. "We're making an adapter, but it's going to take a while…"

"Too futuristic," Sam said, wryly.

"Like trying to play an 8 track in a CD player?" Fraiser hazarded.

Ian nodded.

"Exactly."

"But you can make this adapter?" Hammond asked.

"Yeah. I just have to figure out how to rewire Sam's device without blowing it up."

"I'd prefer you didn't bring the mountain down on us, Colonel," the general told him. He noticed that Ian Brooks wasn't long on formality – even with a general officer. Which either meant that he didn't care about rank (or didn't respect the chain of command) or he was so familiar with the General Hammond of his own reality that it was habit to not use the word sir very often.

"It's not the mountain I'm worried about," Ian replied.

"We need the device intact," Sam said, before Ian could finish. "If we blow it up, Ian's stuck here until we can figure out how to reproduce what the device did without actually having it handy to run simulations with."

"We could still _do_ it," Ian added. "It'd just be a lot harder – and take a lot longer."

Fraiser frowned.

"How are you feeling, Colonel Brooks?"

He looked tired, but it was the way he'd winced when he'd shrugged that had her suddenly in doctor mode.

"I'm fine, Janet."

She frowned at the familiarity, but knew it wasn't anything personal. It was just that she wasn't used to strangers calling her by her first name like that. He caught the look and gave her a slightly chagrined look.

"Sorry about that… _Doctor Fraiser_."

Sam hid a smile, and Janet gave a shrug of her own.

"It's all right, Colonel. We must be good friends in your reality…"

It was more of a question than a statement, and Ian nodded.

"I like to think we are, yes."

What more he might have said was interrupted by Daniel waking up and Jack entering the room at the same moment.

"How's it going?" O'Neill asked, reaching down and slapping Jaffer's sides affectionately when the lab came over to get some loving.

"It's not," Sam replied.

"Not _yet_," Ian corrected. "It will."

There was a decidedly determined tone in his voice, but Sam could see the concern in his dark eyes. Not for himself, she knew, because he knew he'd be able to figure it out, but for the wife – whoever she was – in his reality that he'd left behind and who was almost certainly worried sick about him by now.

She nodded.

"Yes. It will."

OOOOOOOOO

"We've got it."

Samantha O'Neill alternated between Rodney's excited expression and Jim's very calm one.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," McKay told her, speaking before Jim could – hardly a surprise there, since he did it to everyone.

"Maybe," Jim corrected.

"_Probably_," McKay conceded, losing a little of the smugness in his expression as he looked over at Jim. "Okay, _maybe_… but almost _certainly_ maybe."

"What do you have?" Jack asked, impatiently. Video conferences weren't his favorite thing in the world and at the moment worrying about Ian was making him more short-tempered than usual.

"We can find him," McKay told him.

"Probably."

"You're sure?" Sam asked, leaning forward once more.

Rodney nodded.

"It was almost ridiculously easy."

"If it's so easy why hasn't _he_ done it and brought himself back here?" Jack asked. "He's twice as smart as you are."

McKay scowled.

"No, he isn't. There is one, maybe two people on any world who-"

"If he was sent back in time as well as to an alternate dimension – as we are certain is the case – Ian might not have access to the same level of technology that we have," Jim said, answering Jack's question. "I am certain that he will manage to do so – provided he isn't hurt – but Doctor McKay and I have both agreed that the odds are high that he's been injured – or worse."

"I didn't say anything about _or worse_," McKay snapped.

"You agreed."

"Because it's _possible_," he said. "But not all that probable. He's probably just having trouble interfacing our technology with the technology from the past."

"You think you can find him and help him get back?" Jack asked. "Without getting stranded there yourselves?"

McKay had a pained expression on his face – he always had that expression when he was getting ready to volunteer for something that he considered crazy.

"Yes."

"And if you can't find him where you think he is?"

McKay shrugged.

"Then we keep looking."

"There are a million different realities…" Sam reminded him.

"Then we had better get started," Chelani told them. He bowed to Jack and Sam and headed for the hall. McKay nodded a quick goodbye and hurried after Chelani.

"Good luck," Sam told them, but they were already out of sight down the corridor.


	15. Chapter 15

"You're sure this will work?"

McKay scowled.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

General Hunt wasn't offended.

"Because we don't want to have to come looking for you in the off chance Colonel Brooks manages to find his way home, Doctor."

"We're not going to get _lost_," Rodney said, holding up his laptop and the interface device he'd uploaded his tracking program onto. "We'll lose touch with _this_ reality, of course, but we'll be able to find our way back without too much effort."

"You _hope_."

"We are fairly certain," Jim replied, answering in his unflappable way that annoyed Rodney almost as much as stupid questions did. "Otherwise we would not undertake such a risky feat."

Jim had responsibilities in _this_ reality, after all. Jack O'Neill would be fine while he was gone – proxies had been brought in to take over for Chelani while he was gone – but watching over Jack and his family was still _his_ job, and one he thoroughly enjoyed.

Hunt nodded.

"What do you need from us?"

"Nothing," McKay told him. "We're going to use Ancient technology to warp the wormhole towards the new destination in the past, and we have all the data we need from every solar event for the last three hundred years to take with us to get back to the future."

"Why can't you just use Ancient technology to get back?" one of the gate techs asked, not bothering to hide the fact that he – and the others – were all listening in. Technology was too alluring to miss out on when it was being shown off, after all.

"The Ancients were adept at traveling back into time," Chelani replied. "But the future is too uncertain to be able to predict with any accuracy."

"Too many variables can change the way things progress in any given timeline," Rodney added. "Which would throw the time traveler – that's _us_ in this case – off by God only knows how much. Which is why we use a solar flare. There's not a whole lot that can change the sun – aside from someone blowing it up, of course."

"Which is unlikely," Chelani told Hunt.

The general nodded his understanding – and he actually did understand it – and waved the gate technicians back to their posts.

"Let's get this going, then," he said, moving out of the way so Rodney and Jim could start connecting their doohickeys to the gate.

McKay looked over at Jim, gesturing for him to do the honors. If it had been Ian, they'd have done Rock, Paper, Scissors for the job. Chelani was the expert when it came to this particular technology, however, so McKay was willing to allow him to do it.

In a very short time, the wires were connected and Jim activated the stargate.

"When we go through and the stargate shuts down, simply disconnect the wires. We will return as soon as possible, but will require no assistance on the part of the SGC."

Hunt nodded and watched as the two of them shouldered their small packs and walked through the event horizon.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Think that's it?" Sam asked, dubiously.

Ian nodded, leaning back in his chair and stretching.

"I'm pretty sure it is, yeah."

Of course, he'd been staring at the thing for hours, now, so who knew for sure?

"Now what?"

"Now I need to interface my laptop with the device and see what I can do to reverse the process that brought me here…"

She couldn't miss how tired he sounded – and she was just as tired.

"Can we take a break first?" she asked, hopefully.

He looked surprised, and then chagrined.

"I'm sorry. Yeah, take as long as you want. I didn't mean-"

"I meant, can we _both_ take a break?" she asked, standing up and stretching a little as well. She was just as stiff and sore as he was, after all.

"I don't have time, Sam. I need to-"

"If you're too tired, you might make a mistake and end up in yet another reality," she pointed out. "Take a break, get some rest and something to eat and we'll start again in a few hours."

"But-"

"I could have Hammond order it," she added.

He scowled. Hammond hadn't ordered him to do anything in years – at least the one in _his_ reality hadn't. This one would still believe that he outranked Ian – and he did, for all intent and purposes – and would definitely try and hold him to any order given. It was a situation Ian didn't want to find himself in.

"A _short_ break," he said, giving in when his stomach growled, reminding him that it had been a very long time indeed since his breakfast on Atlantis.

She smiled.

"Fine."

It was easy to be gracious when you got your way.

"Lunch?" he asked.

She looked at her watch.

"Dinner."

He frowned and looked up at the clock on the wall – his own watch was useless here and he refused to reset it to the local time. It was almost 7:00.

"Damn."

"Come on," Sam said, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet. "I'll buy."

He stifled a groan as he got up, his muscles were all sore and his shoulder and ribs were really aching. He didn't complain, though, and walked with her to the commissary where they'd be able to get a decent meal without actually having to leave the base. He wasn't willing to waste that much time.

Sam smiled when they reached the entrance, and Ian followed her gaze. Sitting at one of the tables in the corner of the room was Jack, holding a little girl against his chest and feeding Jaffer part of his half-finished meal with his free hand.

"That's Danielle?" Ian asked as they walked over.

Sam nodded, her smile growing as the little girl looked up at their approach. Ian noted that her eyes were blue – not brown like Nia and Jake's were. Another difference, he supposed.

"That's her."

Jack smiled a greeting to them, and handed Danielle up to her mother when Sam reached for her.

"Careful," he warned. "She's not feeling good."

Sam frowned.

"Why not?"

"I threw up," the little girl complained, miserably, resting her chin on her mother's shoulder and looking over at Ian with mournful blue eyes.

"Poor baby…" Sam looked over at Jack. "Did you have Janet look at her?"

"She said it's probably just a stomach bug. Nothing to worry about – as long as we don't let her get dehydrated."

"Who's that?" Danielle asked, still looking at Ian.

"This is Ian."

"He's a friend of ours," Jack added.

She looked over at him, questioning, and Ian nodded, gracing her with a smile he normally reserved for his own boys.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"She's beautiful, Sam…"

Carter smiled and sat down, careful not to dislodge the child.

"Thank you."

"Go get something to eat, Colonel," Jack told him. "Then you guys can confuse me with a progress report on how your project is coming along."

Ian smiled, but instead of leaving, he sat down beside Sam, still watching Danielle.

"Your stomach hurts?"

She nodded.

"Does it hurt _all_ the time, or just sometimes?"

"All the time."

Of course, she was a miserable two year old. Of course it hurt all the time. Even if it didn't.

He reached out and brushed her hair back from her forehead with a light touch.

"Want me to bring you some ice cream?"

She nodded.

"Okay…"

No kid passes up ice cream. Besides, she found that suddenly her stomach really didn't hurt all that much, after all.

Ian left the table – with Jaffer right beside him – and Danielle sat up a little on her mother's lap.

"I like him. He tickles."

Sam smiled, running her hand over the little girl's forehead looking for a fever. Relieved when she didn't find one, she kissed her lightly.

"I like him, too."

Both of them looked over at Jack, who had taken advantage of Jaffer's absence to eat a few bites of his meal. He rolled his eyes, but noticed that his little girl didn't look quite as miserable as she did a moment before.

"I do, three," he told them.

Before Danielle could do more than giggle an alarm suddenly sounded throughout the area.

_"Unscheduled off world activation… General Hammond to the control room, please! Unscheduled off world activation…"_

By the time Jack had lunged to his feet and headed for the door – with Sam right behind him, Ian and Jaffer were already out in the corridor and sprinting down the hall.


	16. Chapter 16

Jack caught up to Ian and Jaffer when they reached the first door that required a pass card. Ian watched impatiently as O'Neill pulled his card out and swiped it, and by then Sam and Daniel had both joined them as well. Danielle was nowhere in sight, and Ian assumed Sam had handed her off to one of the people who'd been in the commissary. The door swooshed open and he took off again, this time joining a small group of armed Marines who were also heading that direction to serve as backup for those who were already at the embarkation room.

Carter veered off at the stairway to the control room, but the rest of them pelted through the door to the gate room, stopping only when they would have been positioned between the gate and the guns of those who were watching.

Jack frowned, looking at the gate – which was already active – and then turning to look up at the control room.

"Why isn't the iris shut?" he asked them.

They could see Carter look down at the computer in front of her and then over at Hammond for just an instant before she replied.

"We can't get it to shut."

The men behind the guns tensed, and Ian wished he were armed, as well. As if he could read his mind – or maybe it was strictly coincidental – Jaffer rumbled beside him, reminding Ian that he was hardly without protection.

Jack turned to Ian.

"_You_ didn't have anything to do with this?"

Ian shook his head.

"No."

Before he could say anything else, Teal'c joined them, a silent, solid mountain of Jaffa complete with staff weapon and impassive expression. Beside him was Jack (the dog) who had caught the tension in the room and was growling softly, just loud enough to be heard.

"Why isn't anything happening?" Daniel asked after they'd stood there a full minute, watching.

"Maybe it's a wrong number?" Jack hazarded.

Ian smiled. And then about jumped out of his skin when two figures were suddenly flung from the gate at a high rate of speed. Both of them tumbled down the ramp and landed in a heap at the feet of three of the Marines. They all raised their weapons, but Ian had already recovered from his shock and jumped forward.

"Wait!"

Jaffer went forward with him, but the lab stopped when Ian did, and sniffed the first person when Ian knelt between the two fallen figures.

"What is it, Colonel?" Jack asked, coming forward as well. Both of the newcomers were silent and still, clearly knocked unconscious.

"I don't believe it…" Ian muttered as Teal'c stepped forward as well and knelt beside the other one.

"_Medical team to the embarkation room!"_

Hammond had obviously decided that the two needed medical assistance first. Once they were awake he could find out who they were – although even from his position above the room he could see that Ian seemed to recognize them. Which didn't really surprise him.

"This one is unconscious, O'Neill…" Teal'c reported, turning the man over.

"You know them, Colonel?" Jack asked, again. This time with a tone of voice that told Ian he didn't want his question ignored.

Ian nodded.

"You do, too, Jack."

He rolled Rodney McKay over, and Jack and Daniel both made surprised noises. He was older, and wearing what was clearly a military uniform - one that was almost identical to Ian's, but there was no mistaking the fact that they _did_, indeed, know him.

"_McKay_?"

Ian nodded, frowning at the bleeding gash on McKay's forehead. He reached for the first bare skin he could find – McKay's wrist – and closed his eyes for just a moment. The bleeding stopped immediately, and Daniel made another noise as he knelt down on the other side of the unconscious astrophysicist.

"How did you do-"

Ian ignored the question and turned from McKay to check Chelani. The Ancient wasn't bleeding, but there was a goose egg above his right eye that was promising to cover ever color of the rainbow by the time it was finished swelling. A moment later, however, the swelling was already going down and Chelani opened his eyes with a groan.

"Ian Brooks…"

"Chelani… what are you doing here?"

The Ancient started to sit up, and Ian supported him while he did so, but it wasn't Chelani who answered.

"We came to _rescue_ you," McKay said, sitting up as well and putting his hand on his forehead, which was probably still aching. "Cassie's worried sick, and everyone else-"

He stopped when he saw O'Neill – and Carter, who had just joined them from the control room.

"Wow…"

Sam scowled – an automatic reaction at the sight of McKay.

"_What?"_

"You look _great_."

Now it was Jack's turn to scowl.

"Watch it, McKay."

Rodney waved a hand dismissively.

"Sorry, Mr. Pre-"

"_Rodney_…"

McKay looked over at the interruption and frowned as he realized why Ian had interrupted him.

"That's right, we're in the _past_, aren't we? Which explains why Sam looks so much younger now than she did a couple of hours ago." He looked at Carter. "Not that you don't look great in our _time_, too – because you do… it's just that now you're a lot – you're not _married_ to him, yet, are you? In _this_ time, I mean, because-"

"McKay…"

Jack's tone and expression were both sure indicators that he wasn't going to deal with any more foolishness from the astrophysicist.

"Right. Sorry. Anyway," he said, holding his hand out to Daniel, who helped him to his feet automatically. "We're here to rescue you, Colonel."

Chelani stood up more slowly, looking around.

"It looks the same."

Ian nodded.

"There are some notable differences from our own past, however."

"Such as…?" McKay asked, curiously.

"Well, for one thing, I'm dead here."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"From the Wraith?"

Ian shook his head.

"From a car accident when I was sixteen."

"I have heard the story of that accident from your father," Chelani said. "It was a bad one from what I understood."

"A lot worse in this reality, apparently," Ian told them. "How did you find me?"

"We used the tracking program," McKay said, smugly. "How else?"

"How-"

The doors whooshed open again, and this time Janet Fraiser entered the room, along with a medical team and a couple of gurneys. She stopped short, by the now more relaxed Marines, and looked at the newcomers with surprise. Chelani she didn't know, of course, but there was no mistaking the other one.

"McKay?"

Rodney's grin was smug.

"In the flesh."

Janet looked over at O'Neill, who shook his head. There was a lot to discuss, but he couldn't stand being this close to McKay – no matter what Brooks said.

"Doctor, take McKay and his friend to the infirmary and give them a check up. Colonel, you're with me."

"I'm _fine_," McKay protested. "I don't need-"

"Go with her," Ian told him. "As soon as you're cleared, we'll start working on getting us back home."

"But-"

"Just do it, McKay."

The astrophysicist scowled, but allowed one of Fraiser's medics to escort him towards the door, followed by Chelani, who simply nodded to Ian and the others, accepting the request without complaint.

"He hasn't changed a bit," Daniel said, watching as the medical team followed Fraiser and the rest.

"Actually, he _has_," Ian disagreed. "But you'd have to know him really well to know it."

They all looked fairly skeptical, but Jack just shrugged.

"Come on, Colonel. Hammond's going to want to be briefed as soon as McKay and the other guy are cleared."


	17. Chapter 17

Hammond was waiting for them in the briefing room – not surprisingly – and he gestured Ian into a chair as soon as he arrived with SG-1.

"All right, Colonel. Care to explain?"

Ian shrugged.

"McKay said they came to rescue me," he replied. "I honestly didn't expect him to come looking."

"And the other one?" Jack asked, sitting down as well.

"Jim."

"Jim?" Sam asked. "You called him Chelani in the gate room."

Ian hesitated.

"Okay, there's more to him than just _Jim_, but before I explain it, you guys are going to have to decide just how much information you want me to give you. A lot of people would say that I've already screwed with your timeline – _and_ your reality – just by being here, and they're probably right. But if I tell you much more than I already have, it could wreak some serious havoc on the rest of you."

Sam nodded, looking over at Hammond.

"He's right, sir. Who knows how much his being here has affected things – especially with the technology I've already witnessed him using. Not to mention he's exposed Dotty as an Ancient – something we never could have done without his help."

"Well, you _would_ have," Ian told her. "At least, it happens in my past."

"Regardless," Sam said, looking at the others. "We've shifted our reality so much that it's almost certainly impossible to put it back on the same course it takes in his own reality."

"His isn't the same, anyway," Jack pointed out. "He's obviously alive in his – but he isn't _here_ – and you told me that Danielle wasn't born in his."

"She isn't?" Hammond asked.

Ian shook his head.

"Sam's first pregnancy turned out to be a entopic," he explained. "She almost died, and the fetus didn't have a chance."

"First pregnancy?" Jack repeated. "There are more?"

Ian smiled.

"Yes."

"How many more?"

"Colonel," Hammond interrupted. "I'd say that was one of those things that we shouldn't be asking."

"Why not?" Jack asked. "If we've already messed up the timeline – why not go all the way with it and get as much knowledge out of Colonel Brooks as we can?"

"Because it could cause us to make mistakes we don't make in his own timeline. Mistakes that might make things go horribly wrong here."

"Or it might keep us from _making_ mistakes," Daniel countered.

Sam looked over at Ian, who shook his head. He'd already told her that she had a son and a daughter in his reality, so that wasn't going to let any more information out than he already had, but he wasn't about to give away much more to them without making sure they wanted it.

"I can't make the decision for you, Sam. You guys decide what you want and I'll do it, but I'm not going to tell you what to do."

Hammond started to say something, but Daniel interrupted him before he'd done more than take a breath.

"You healed McKay and Jim in the gate room."

"Yes."

"How?"

"You did?" Sam asked, surprised.

Ian nodded.

"So you're either an Ancient yourself, or you're-"

"I'm not Ancient," Ian said. "No more than Jack here is."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Jack asked.

At the same time, however, Teal'c chose to speak up.

"And yet you have the abilities of the Ancients?" the Jaffa asked.

"No. I have the _knowledge_ of the Ancients – just like Jack did."

"You mean with the repository of knowledge," Daniel said.

"You stuck your head in one of those things?" Jack asked, surprised. "On _purpose_?"

"No," Ian told him. "I was tricked into it."

"By whom?" Teal'c asked.

"Dotty."

"_Our_ Dotty?"

"No, one from another reality – and not my own, either, so don't ask, because I don't know. They wanted to see how well I'd be able to handle the device, so they tricked me into it."

"And you didn't go crazy?" Jack asked.

"It wasn't the same as the one you used. This one was designed to put the knowledge in slower – so a human mind can handle it."

"And it gave you the ability to heal?" Hammond asked.

"No, I had to figure that out on my own – using their knowledge to do it."

They all stared at him, and he scowled.

"It's a long story, and as much as I'd love to tell you all about it, there are more pressing issues facing you guys at the moment. If you want to discuss this without me, I'll understand, and I can go check on my people while I wait."

Hammond shook his head.

"There's nothing to discuss, Colonel. Baby names and numbers aside, the intel alone is-"

He was interrupted by a knock on the door and an Airman sticking his head through without waiting for a reply.

"Sir, NORAD has something you need to see."

Hammond frowned; annoyed at the interruption, but knowing full well the young man wouldn't have barged in on a conference unless it was important.

"What is it?"

"An unknown contact, sir… They just picked it up on deep space telemetry."

"An asteroid?" Daniel asked.

Hammond stood up.

"They'd be able to recognize an asteroid, Doctor Jackson. Let's go have a look…"

He walked out of the room, following the Airman, and Daniel and Teal'c both followed, with Jack (the dog) right beside Teal'c as he always was. Jack and Sam looked at Ian, who waited.

"You'd better come, too, Ian," Sam said as she stood up. "Maybe it'll be something you know about."

"I hope not."

There weren't a lot of unknown contacts that he cared to think about just then. The Asgard always came in cloaked, and the Tok'ra almost always used the stargate when they came calling – at least in Ian's time and space. That didn't leave a lot of allies – only a lot of enemies.

He stood and followed, though. Better to know what it was than be left in the dark.


	18. Chapter 18

Janet Fraiser was a fine doctor – one of the best trauma specialists in the country, or she wouldn't be at the SGC – but even a first year medical student would have been able to see that the two people in her infirmary didn't require a lot of medical attention. She frowned as the blood was wiped away from Rodney McKay's head, revealing no injury. Not even a scratch.

"What the hell?"

Rodney put his hand on his forehead.

"Ian healed me."

"Excuse me?"

McKay made an impatient noise.

"_Colonel_ _Brooks_? He healed me. He had to have…" he looked over at Chelani. "_You_ didn't do it, did you?"

The Ancient shook his head.

"No. I, too, was injured. Ian Brooks healed me as well."

"He healed you?"

"Yes."

"Using a trick he learned from the Ancients," McKay added, always happy to have an audience that hadn't heard the story before – especially an audience like Fraiser, who he knew would find it extraordinary. The people in Atlantis were a little too used to the unusual as far as he was concerned. It made it a lot harder to surprise them.

He wasn't disappointed. Fraiser gave him a look that plainly said she didn't believe it. She looked over at Chelani who had been around humans long enough to understand the look.

"It's true. He has the ability to heal injuries – including serious ones."

"An ability _you've_ taken advantage of several times," Rodney told her. "At least, the other you from our time has. _You_ obviously can't because he's dead here, so he won't learn how to do it."

She shook her head, whether from the confusing turn of the conversation or just because she couldn't even imagine being able to have that kind of ability to draw on when it was needed, she didn't say. Instead, she gestured for her medics to finish wiping the blood off McKay's head and turned to Jim.

"And you?" she asked. "What's your story?"

"My story?" Chelani asked, confused.

"She wants to know who you are," McKay told him. "He's an Ancient," he added, unable to resist throwing yet another stone into the already rippling pond.

Chelani frowned.

"That might not have been something Colonel Brooks wanted revealed, Doctor McKay."

"It'll save a lot of time later," McKay told him, waving away the medic. He felt fine, and didn't need anyone washing his face for him. At least not the _guy_ she'd assigned. Now, if it had been a cute, young _female_ lieutenant – or even a captain…

The phone rang and Fraiser was close enough that she could answer it without moving more than a couple of steps away.

"Fraiser."

Whatever else the conversation involved was completely on the other end, because a moment later she hung up, and her expression was serious.

"General Hammond wants you two in the control room."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"What the hell is it?"

When he asked the question, Jack O'Neill was looking at the monitor that held the direct feed from NORAD's main computer line, but he turned and looked over at Ian almost immediately. Unfortunately, the image on the screen wasn't all that clear, and Ian didn't really have a clue.

"It's too small to be an asteroid," Ian said.

"Unless it's a _little_ asteroid…" O'Neill pointed out, looking back at the screen once more.

Ian scowled. He was used to Jack's comments, but they'd been a lot more amusing when he'd been younger. Of course, he also knew that humor was the way Jack dealt with serious situations, so he couldn't really complain.

"It _has_ to be a ship. It's not going fast enough to be a comet. The Asgard always cloak to avoid detection and panic, so I doubt it's Thor coming to give Shawn his nightly lesson."

"He's on Spring Break right now," Jack said. "No lessons during vacations."

"Tok'ra?" Sam asked, looking over at Ian, who shrugged.

"Could be – although in my reality they usually come by gate when they come."

The image suddenly cleared as NORAD brought Hubble around to get a good look at the incoming blob, and the blob sharpened into what turned out to be a ship. One that all of them recognized.

"Tok'ra," Teal'c stated, as all of them relaxed marginally.

The technician seated at the computer beside them put a hand to his ear, and turned to Hammond.

"Sir, NORAD is getting a signal, and sending it down to us."

"A visual?" Hammond asked.

"Audio only."

"Let's hear it."

The voice was familiar to all of them, and they relaxed even more – although Jacob Carter didn't make all that many social calls.

"'_Stargate Command, this is Jacob Carter.'"_

Hammond looked at the tech, who hastily nodded and handed him a headset with a microphone.

"Jacob, this is General Hammond."

"_Just who I was looking for,"_ came the reply. _"I have some news for you. I'll be there in half an hour."_

"We'll meet you in the briefing room."

The technician closed the line as it went dead on the other end, and Hammond looked at the others.

"We-"

The door whooshed open and McKay walked in with Jim right behind him. They were both still wearing the uniforms they'd arrived in, but both were much cleaner than they had been. Obviously Fraiser had been in the process of getting them cleaned up when Hammond had called for them – on the off chance that something or someone dangerous was approaching and they'd need the extra brains to figure out a threat assessment.

"We're here," Rodney said, needlessly. "What's up?"

"We're going to the briefing room," Daniel told them as they all filed out past the new arrivals.

"What? Why?"

They didn't answer, though. Ian just gestured for him to follow. McKay scowled.

"Why didn't they just call us to the briefing room in the first place?"

Chelani shrugged. He was still getting to know those people that he worked with in his own reality. These people were the same, but even then they were also vastly different.

"We shall have to wait and find out when the time is right."

He turned and followed the others, and McKay's scowl simply grew.

"What kind of answer is that?"


	19. Chapter 19

"Any idea what he wants?" McKay asked as they all sat down in the briefing room. He was seated beside Ian, who was flanked on the other side by Jack – with Jaffer in between them getting attention from both of them at random. "I mean, we have a lot of stuff to figure out if we're going to get back to-"

"He just said he had some news," Daniel replied. "We didn't really have a lot of time to talk."

"I wonder why he didn't use the gate…?" Sam mused from her position on the other side of Jack.

"Perhaps it was more convenient for him to bring his ship," Chelani answered. "Not all worlds have Stargates, after all."

"Indeed," agreed Teal'c, who had been to many more worlds than the other members of SG-1. "Or perhaps his news concerns the ship he is bringing."

Whatever he was, he was definitely punctual. They were only in the room long enough to get some coffee and get settled before a Marine Lance Corporal escorted Jacob Carter into the room. The Tok'ra walked over and shook Hammond's hand when the general rose, but then hesitated when he saw the newcomers.

"I didn't know you had company, George…" he said, uncertainly. There were a lot of people in the SGC he didn't know, but he was fairly certain that he recognized McKay – someone he knew Sam wasn't particularly fond of – and the dark-haired Colonel had actually made him do a double take when he'd gotten a good look at him. He, too, looked familiar, but Jacob couldn't place where or why that was so.

"It's all right, Jacob," Hammond told him. "They're rather special guests, actually."

"Really?" he couldn't help the skepticism in his voice, and none of them blamed him for it.

Hammond nodded.

"Rodney McKay –"

"_Doctor_ Rodney McKay," Rodney interrupted, giving a half-hearted wave in the Tok'ra's direction.

Hammond frowned at the interruption but continued as though it hadn't happened.

"Jim…"

Chelani gave Jacob a slight bow from his seat, which the Tok'ra returned and then Jacob looked over at the last stranger. Hammond didn't make him wait, but he was definitely watching for his reaction to the next introduction.

"Colonel Ian Brooks…"

Jacob started visibly, paled, and then flushed and paled once more before looking from the colonel to Hammond.

"Is this some kind of joke, George?" he asked, his voice angry and his expression hard. "If it is, it's not-"

"It's not a joke, Jacob," Ian said, interrupting. "It's me."

"Ian Brooks is _dead_," the Tok'ra told him, leaning on the table. "I was at his father's side the day they buried him – almost a year ago."

Ian nodded, but it was Sam who spoke up.

"This isn't _that_ Ian Brooks, dad. He's from a different reality. A reality where he apparently didn't die in the wreck that killed the Ian Brooks you knew…"

"Ian was fifteen," Jacob told them.

"I'm from several years into the future," Ian replied. "I know it's hard to believe – I didn't believe it myself at first – but it's-"

"It's not possible," the Tok'ra interrupted once more. "Don't get me wrong, you certainly look a lot like I would have expected Ian Brooks to look when he matured, but you must be out of your mind if you think I'll believe-"

"Ask me something only Ian would know," Ian said, leaning back. "Anything."

Jacob's eyes narrowed slightly, clearly debating whether or not to play the game. Eventually he must have decided to, because he leaned forward again.

"What did I get Ian for his 4th birthday?"

"He's not going to remember _that_," Sam objected. "That had to have been thirty years ago – at least."

"Nothing," Ian told him, ignoring Sam's objection. "You went out with my dad and ended up getting into a fight with a group of local bikers. You both spent the night in jail, where my mother made you stay because she was incredibly pissed at my father. The next day when you got out, you took me to the mall and bought me a huge box of Legos to make up for missing my party."

Sam looked over at him in surprise, but Jacob was staring at him as if he'd seen a ghost, telling her that the answer had been right on the money.

"Ian?" Jacob finally managed. "It's _really_ you?"

Ian nodded.

"It really is, Jacob. Just not-"

"Have you called your folks, yet?" Jacob interrupted. "They're going to be-"

"I haven't and I won't," Ian told him, his expressive eyes pained. "I'm not going to be here long, and it would only hurt them to remind them of what they lost."

"But you're _here_!" Jacob said. "They haven't lost you after all. Maggie-"

"I'm not staying, Jacob, and I'm not the boy that they knew. I'm grown up and married, and I even have _children_… I can't stay here with them, and it'd be cruel to give them any false hope."

Of course, he _looked_ like he wanted nothing more than to do just that – despite his words to the contrary – and Sam wanted to hug him he looked so vulnerable just then.

Jacob stared for another long moment – probably having an internal conversation with his symbiote – and then finally, with a lot of reluctance, nodded.

"I guess I can see your point," he admitted, sitting down heavily in an empty chair. "It's just…"

Ian nodded.

"I know…"

"So you're a _Colonel_, huh?" The Tok'ra looked pleased by that. "Your dad must be proud. Your other dad, I mean. In your reality."

Ian smiled.

"I'm pretty sure he and my mother are more shocked by the fact that they managed to get grandchildren," he said. "Considering what a pain in the tail I was when I was younger."

Jacob's own smile was reminiscent, and a little sad, but he didn't have time to say anything else, because Hammond pulled his attention back to their original concern.

"So what brings _you_ here, Jacob?" he asked.

"Tell me it's good news for a change," Jack added.

"Depends on whether or not you're a system lord," Jacob said, sitting down across the table from Ian, but watching him nonetheless. "Turns out there's a new player in town, and he's a serious threat to the old order of things. He's actually managed to take out a couple of system lords – smaller ones, but it's only a matter of time before he goes after someone with more clout."

"Let me guess…" Ian said, leaning forward. "His name's Anubis…"

Jacob nodded, startled.

"How did you know that?"

With a glance over at Chelani, Ian shrugged.

"He's a problem we've already faced in our time."


	20. Chapter 20

_Author's note: Sorry about the wait, folks. I really have been distracted here at the convention – and writing is hard when I'm distracted!_

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

"What kind of problem?" Jack asked. "If he's picking off system lords, then it can only be a good thing, right?"

"Except that when he gets strong enough, Earth is going to come into his sights," McKay said. "And he'll have a very large armada – with lots and lots of Jaffa – with him."

"He's right, Jack," Ian told O'Neill. "We got lucky when _we_ finished him off-"

"It wasn't _all_ luck," McKay interjected. "But we had access to a lot more technology than these guys have – including a Gateship."

Ian looked over at Hammond, a question in his dark eyes that the general couldn't mistake. Obviously, he didn't want to discuss things too intimately until he knew what Hammond wanted – or didn't want, in this case – to know.

"Colonel Brooks…" Hammond said, drawing everyone's attention. "You obviously were a help to your own time and reality when it came to this Anubis. Since we don't have that luxury in this time and place, I'd appreciate any help you'd care to pass on to us."

Sam looked a bit dubious, but the others didn't. They wanted whatever edge they could get – and who cared about what it might do to their own futures? They already knew things were different here than where Ian and McKay were from.

Ian looked over at Chelani.

"What's Anubis doing right now?"

The Ancient didn't hesitate with his answer.

"He'll be consolidating his power. Whether he just figured out the Ancient technology doesn't matter, because he'll use it as he figures each device out. The first of the minor system lords to fall are going to be simply for experimentation to make sure he knows what the technology is capable of doing. After that, once he'd certain he can't be stopped by system lords, he'll start aiming a lot higher."

"How long, do you think?" Ian asked.

Chelani looked over at Jacob.

"Do you know which minor system lord was last to fall?"

"As far as we know it was Shilof. Unless someone else has fallen since our last report."

Chelani nodded.

"Then he has only begun to reverse engineer the Ancient technologies that he's found."

"He's reverse engineering Ancient technology?" Sam asked, amazed. "Why doesn't he just use it the way he's found it?"

"Because in order to use a lot of Ancient tech, you have to have an Ancient gene," Ian answered before Chelani could. "And you can't have a symbiote. Good or bad," he added looking over at Jacob.

Chelani nodded his agreement, looking just a little uncomfortable, Sam noticed. Of course, she didn't know him all that well, so she might be reading him wrong. Jack noticed, too.

"How are you such an authority on this Anubis guy?" he asked.

"We've faced him before, Jack," Ian told him before Chelani could answer. "Chelani was a part of that."

McKay snorted.

"Yeah, you could say that."

Ian scowled and shot Rodney a hard look, but the astrophysicist just gave him a _what did_ _I say?_ look.

"How did you defeat him?" Daniel asked.

"We snuck onto his ship and blew it up," Rodney said, quickly.

"Just like that?" Jack asked, skeptically.

"No. Rodney was right earlier. We had a lot of Ancient technology – including the gateship."

"What's a gateship?" Jack asked. He'd planned on asking earlier when Ian had first mentioned them, but Hammond had spoken up first.

"An Ancient ship," Ian replied. "They're amazing stuff, really. Small enough to go through the Stargate – which is why they're called gateships – and they can cloak."

"Not to mention they carry a full compliment of drones," McKay added. He looked over at Ian. "You know… if they had a gateship they could probably take Anubis out without sneaking on board his ship and sabotaging his engineering section."

Chelani shook his head.

"Anubis has shields derived from Ancient technology. They will protect his ship from drones."

"Not to mention, they'd kill you in this reality," Rodney added.

"That is not a concern," Chelani told him, shrugging.

Ian looked surprised at that.

"You think the you in this reality should die?"

The Ancient shrugged.

"This reality doesn't matter."

"I beg to differ," Jack said, scowling.

The Ancient smiled, realizing what he'd said.

"That didn't come out exactly how I meant it, Jack." He amended. "I meant, whether the me in this reality survives or not is unimportant. Even in my own reality I would have preferred death over being a slave in my own body. It would be a relief. Saving me was a bonus, as you'd say, but an unexpected one."

"What are you talking about?" Daniel asked, frowning.

Ian leaned back in his chair, looking at everyone, but ending with his dark gaze on Chelani.

"It's time we explained a few things," he said. "Most notably, Chelani here."

The Ancient nodded, realizing that if he did it would make things a lot easier for Jack and the others to understand. He knew Jack very well in his own reality, and knew he'd be better off with the complete story. It would also save a lot of arguing and explaining later. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, but he already had it.

"You all know who the Ancients are?" he asked.

There were assorted nods, as he'd figured there would be. It never hurt to be sure, though.

"Well, a long time ago my people were part of an alliance…"

He went on to tell the entire story of how he'd been captured and possessed by Anubis, how Anubis had almost obtained Ascension through his Ancient host's knowledge, only to be pulled back at the brink by his own ambitions for domination and the very evil in his soul. And how Anubis had then used the knowledge gleaned from his host to find and convert some Ancient technology. He told the story right up until Ian had infiltrated Anubis' ship and sabotaged it, and had then used Chelani's energies to kill the symbiote within him, freeing Chelani to finally finish the Ascension he'd begun.

"But you're here," Daniel pointed out, frowning again. "I thought once you ascended you were in some kind of other existence."

The Ancient nodded.

"I returned to heal the mortal injuries Ian obtained in the crash after destroying Anubis' ship, and then left once more."

"But you're still in corporeal form," Daniel pressed.

"My work was not finished," Chelani said, evasively. "I chose to return."

"You didn't heal Ian well enough?" Sam asked.

Ian smiled, but it was Chelani who answered.

"Ian was fine. There was another duty that was placed on me. One I do not wish to share with your people…"

"That's fair enough," Hammond replied. What he had told them had been an amazing amount of intelligence that gave them a lot to work with. If he had a secret he wanted to keep, then that was his own business. He looked at his team, and Jacob. "So, what options do we have?"

"We need to find one of these gateships," Jack said.

McKay shook his head.

"That's not going to happen."

"Why not?" Daniel asked.

McKay rolled his eyes.

"Because they're not sitting on the shelf at Walmart, Doctor Jackson. The Ancients didn't take the things out of the Pegasus system very often, and as far as I know they didn't leave them sitting around to be found later. The only place that we could find one is probably Atlantis, and that's too far away."

"Why?" Sam asked. "You guys have been there…"

"We have ZPMs," McKay told her. "They're extremely powerful energy sources, capable of-"

"Sam has a ZPM," Ian interrupted.

McKay frowned, stopping in mid-sentence and looking over at him.

"What?"

"It's not exactly a ZPM," Ian amended. "But the device she was testing – the one that brought me here? It's built with the same principle as a ZPM – and probably would do the trick with some modifications."

McKay looked over at Carter, and there was a lot of disbelief and shock in his expression, but none of the usual arrogance.

"Really?"

Since Sam hadn't had a clue what a ZPM was, she looked baffled, but Ian nodded.

"Yes."

"And we could use this ZPM thing to get to Atlantis?" Hammond asked.

Ian nodded again.

"Yes."

"Then I suggest you and Doctor McKay here get with Major Carter and get this ZPM thing working…"


	21. Chapter 21

_Author's note: Okay, I'm home from the convention and I had a great time! To celebrate, here's a chapter. And if you want to look at some pictures from this weekend, go to my forum and take a look._

OOOOOOOOOO

They all stood up, but Jack stopped Ian from going anywhere with a simple hand on his arm.

"What are we going to need with us when we go to Atlantis?" he asked. "SCUBA gear?"

Ian shook his head.

"There's air. The shields are up and protecting the gate and the city from the ocean." He hesitated. "We're going to need to take as small a group as possible, though, to keep from screwing things up for the next group that goes…"

"I'll go," Daniel offered. "I can read Ancient and-"

Ian shook his head again.

"I'm sorry, Daniel, but you can't come. We're going to go straight in, right up to the Gateship dock and straight out again. There won't be time for looking around, because I don't want to use any more of the city's systems than we absolutely have to. It'll be way too tempting for you to want to stop and touch everything."

"But-"

"He's right, Daniel," Jack agreed. They could all see how much he wanted to go – but that was enough reason right there to keep him home. Daniel was too interested in the Ancients and all things Ancient. O'Neill looked at Ian. "Who do you think should go?"

"You, me and Rodney," Ian told him.

"Why just the three of you?"

"Because I want to grab three Gateships, and Jack is good enough a pilot to learn to fly one from directions over the radio."

"What about McKay?" Daniel asked.

"I already _know_ how to fly them," the astrophysicist said, smugly. "_And_ I have the gene."

"What gene?" Sam asked.

"The Ancient gene," McKay told her, and now he wasn't quite so smug. "You have to have it to use a lot of their technology – especially the Gateships. It won't work for anyone else."

"Well, how do you know _I_ have it?" Jack asked.

"And why doesn't _Chelani_ go?" Sam asked. "He's Ancient."

"Jack has the gene in my reality," Ian explained. "There's no way he doesn't have it here, too. And Chelani could come if he wanted to, but he doesn't know how to fly a Gateship."

"And I have no desire to see the Atlantis here," Chelani said. "I have seen the one where I am from." He looked over at Ian. "I do wonder, however, how much time you intend to spend here – in this reality."

Ian had been wondering the same thing.

"You and McKay are in danger if we stay too long," Ian told him. "As far as I know, the McKay here is alive – and we already know that you are, too."

"You're talking about _entropic cascade failure_…" Sam said.

Ian nodded, but McKay looked surprised.

"You know about that?"

Sam nodded.

"It's a theory of mine… two people can't survive long in the same-"

"I _know_ what it is," McKay interrupted. "And your theory is right. We're fine for now, but Ian's right; we can't stay here long."

"Which is why Chelani is going to work with Sam on figuring out how to get us back while we're gone," Ian told him, looking over at Sam and Chelani for their reaction to that. He didn't have any authority here, after all.

Sam nodded, as did the Ancient.

"But first we need to get the ZPM thing working," she told him. "Otherwise you're not going anywhere."

"If you have the same memories Jack had when he stuck his head into the repository of knowledge thing, why don't you make one of those power boosters out of a staff weapon's energy source?" Daniel asked.

Ian hesitated, thinking about it, but finally shook his head.

"It'd take too long. Sam's device is pretty much done. We'll use that, instead. Besides, they can use it for the chair device in Antarctica if we can get it working."

"What chair device?" Sam asked, curiously.

"You wouldn't believe this thing, Sam," McKay told her almost gleefully. He loved having knowledge that no one else did – especially Carter, since she was pretty much as smart as anyone he knew. "It runs on a ZPM, and-"

"And we'll tell you all about it _later_," Ian interrupted. "We need to get busy."

Hammond nodded.

"Get to it," he told them. "But keep me advised."

McKay grinned, looking at Ian.

"So. Shall we get to work? Maybe we should call in the other me just to add to-"

"Not a chance," Ian interrupted. Jack's expression had hardened at the very mention of having two McKays around. "You and I are going to work with Sam on her device."

"_You_ need to take a break, Colonel," Janet Fraiser interrupted. "You look exhausted."

Ian scowled, and McKay couldn't help but smile again. How many times had he seen this exact scene?

"I'm fine, Janet."

"_I_ can work with Sam on the device," McKay said. "I understand them just as well as you do."

"I don't need-"

"Ian…" Jack interrupted. "Take your break now, so you're fresh when it comes time for us to go. If McKay knows what he's doing-"

"And I _do_," Rodney said, quickly.

Jack scowled at the interruption, but continued without commenting on it.

"Then he can help Sam, and you'll be fresh for our mission."

"I'm not going to the infirmary," Ian told them.

"Then sack out in my office," Jack replied.

"It wouldn't be the first time," McKay pointed out.

He would have argued with them more, but he really _was_ tired. And starving, too, since he'd never gotten that meal he and Sam had intended to get.

"Fine."

"And stop to get something to eat," Fraiser added.

McKay snickered, ignoring Ian's killer look when he leveled it at him.

"So, Sam…" he said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's get going, shall we? I'm really interested in seeing what you've done."

"Don't be annoying, McKay," Ian warned.

The astrophysicist gave him an innocent look.

_"Me?"_

Jack looked like he wanted to say something, but he was well aware that Sam could handle herself and didn't need him hovering over her guarding her.

"I'll walk with you, Ian," he said.

"So will I," Jacob put in.

"_I_ will remain with Major Carter," Teal'c said, his voice deep and sinister. He looked over at McKay. "In case she needs my assistance with anything."

Now it was Ian's turn to snort with amusement, and he left the room with Jack and Jacob feeling a little better about actually taking the time to take a break. McKay would get the thing finished, even if he'd drive Sam to distraction with his annoying nature. Better yet, he'd go out of his way to explain what he was doing, because he wouldn't be able to help himself.

Things didn't change with McKay. No matter what reality he was in.


	22. Chapter 22

"Commissary first," Jack said when they exited the briefing room. He turned the right direction, with Jaffer beside him and Ian and Jacob right behind him.

Jacob couldn't help but cast sidelong glances at the man who had once been the boy he'd known. Or, if not really that boy – because he was cold and dead – then the closest he'd ever see again.

"So… _Ian_…"

Ian looked over, understanding the odd inflection in the man's voice.

"Odd, isn't it?"

"To say the least," Jacob admitted. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay, Jacob."

"How did… how did you get involved with the SGC? In your reality, I mean…"

It wasn't the question he really wanted to ask – which had been more about how had he gained the Ancient gene he and McKay had been talking about – but he figured this one might actually lead to an answer without asking.

"Shawn was one of my roommates at the Air Force Academy."

"You went into the Academy?" Jacob asked, surprised. "I thought you told Nathan you'd rather burn in hell."

Ian shrugged.

"I told him I'd rather burn in hell than follow in his footsteps, actually. But things change."

"Shawn's your age in your reality?" Jack asked.

Ian shook his head.

"He went into the Academy at fourteen. The Asgard are working on making him brilliant, Jack. There's nothing wrong with that, but he has some powerful and dangerous enemies – here on Earth, and elsewhere – so you need to keep an eye on him."

"Enemies?" Jack asked. "Because of what his mother is?"

"The _Ashrak_ hate him – and I'm not sure why, so it can't be something he's already done. Kinsey will hate him because he hates _you_ – and he needs to be at the Academy – to learn what they have to teach him and to meet some of the men and women he's eventually going to be working with, but he also needs to be protected. You'll have to figure out a way to do that."

"Kinsey?"

Ian nodded.

"He's evil to the core, Jack. Keep an eye on him if you can. Kill him if he gives you the opportunity. Or better yet, warn Dotty about his hatred for Shawn and let her take care of him when he decides to make his move."

"Dotty doesn't seem to have a killer instinct, Ian," Jack protested.

"She's a mother, Jack. Trust me."

"How many kids do _you_ have?" Jacob asked.

"Two. Twin boys. Michael and Carter."

Jack smiled, catching the connection immediately, of course.

"Carter, huh?"

Ian smiled, as well.

"That was what Sam said, too."

"Michael after Nathan?" Jacob asked.

"I let him think that," Ian told the Tok'ra with a grin. "Since we have the same middle name, it's easy to give him the credit for it. And it made my mom happy."

"I bet."

They reached the commissary by then, and entered. They heard a happy squeal and when Ian looked in the right direction he saw Danielle running toward them on her little legs, grinning excitedly at the sight of Jack – or Jaffer. She stumbled as she reached them, her momentum finally getting the better of her uncertain balance, but by then Jack had caught her up into his arms.

"You're looking a lot better," he told her, his voice soft and gentle and the tone the one he used only for Jake and Nia.

"I _feel_ better," she agreed, looking at Ian.

Jack looked over at him, too.

"You made her better?"

Ian nodded.

"It was just a touch of a stomach flu. She'd have been fine on her own."

"Handy skill for a dad to have…"

"Definitely."

Although his own boys had yet to actually hurt themselves badly enough to need more than Cassie's assistance.

Jack held Danielle while Ian helped himself to a huge meal, and then they sat down at one of the corner tables.

"So what do _I_ do in your reality?" he asked, curiously. "Anything interesting?"

Ian had taken a large bite of meatloaf, and hesitated in mid-chew, uncertain whether to answer the question or not.

Jack frowned at the hesitation.

"I'm not _dead_, am I?"

"No. You're fine. So is Sam…"

"And our kids…?"

"Yeah, they're good, too." He swallowed his meatloaf. "I just don't know if I should-"

"Just tell me, Ian," Jack told him. "It might happen here, it might not. Either way, it'd still be interesting." He looked over at Jacob. "Unless I'm a host or something, Then I don't want to know."

"You're president."

Jacob snorted; almost spraying them with coffee he'd just taken a sip of.

"You're _kidding_!"

Ian shook his head.

"McKay started to call you Mr. President when he first saw you, remember?"

Jack frowned, thinking back.

"How did he become President?" Jacob asked, his eyes lit up with amusement. "And who's the Vice President?"

Ian smiled, taking another bite of the meatloaf – which was delicious.

"Believe it or not, my dad is."

He went on to tell them an abbreviated story of what had happened after the destruction of Anubis' ship and fleet all the while wolfing down everything on his plate – except for the tidbits he tossed Jaffer every now and then. There were very few things he left out – his marriage to Cassie and Jaffer's death being examples – but it didn't take long to tell because he wasn't being very specific. By the time he was done – and they listened without interruption for the most part – his meal was consumed and he was beginning to droop a little.

"That really is incredible," Jacob said, shaking his head as he took Danielle from Jack. The little girl had fallen asleep during the story – which was pretty boring for someone without an interest in it.

"Well, it's what happened in _my_ reality," Ian said, standing up and gathering all the garbage onto his tray. "There's no guarantee it's how things will turn out here. It might be even better here than where I'm from…"

Jack nodded.

"For one thing, I have Danielle _here_, and I don't there, right?"

"Exactly."

"Then I'd much rather be here," he said, tossing the sleeping girl a tender look as he and the others walked to Jack's office. He opened the door and pushed Ian in with a gentle hand on his back. "You look dead on your feet. Get some rest and I'll wake you up if anything happens."

Ian nodded, heading for the sofa – which was as comfortable as a lot of beds he'd been in. He pulled a cushion over to use as a pillow, and closed his eyes. He was already almost asleep when he felt a familiar weight settle along side of him, a solid warmth that would do the trick nicely since there wasn't a blanket. He felt Jaffer's contented sigh and slid his hand along the velvety fur, enjoying a sensation he hadn't felt in far too long.

Then he fell asleep and didn't feel anything else.

They watched him sleep for a minute, and Jacob turned to his son in law.

"Think his story is legit?"

Jack nodded, gesturing at Jaffer, who was already asleep as well.

"Jaffer likes him. That's good enough for me." He turned, closing the door only part way so that Jaffer could leave if he wanted to. "Come on. I want to check on what kind of progress Sam and McKay are making."

Leaving Ian to his nap, and with the sleeping child still in Jacob's arms, they left.


	23. Chapter 23

Jack and Jacob separated at the infirmary. Jacob planned to stay on base until they had as much intel on Anubis as possible, and since he was there and not doing anything else at the moment, he wanted to spend some time with his grand daughter. She'd woken up after they'd left Jack's office, but since it was late, he was going to tell her a bedtime story and put her to bed. _Not_ something he had a lot of opportunity to do with the Tok'ra.

Jack headed for Sam's lab where he knew she'd be buried neck deep into the ZPM project, which usually meant he'd leave her alone so he didn't annoy her. However, she was working with _McKay_, which meant she was undoubtedly already annoyed, and he wanted to see if she was ready to take a break – whether she wanted to or not, if necessary.

When he entered her lab, however, she didn't look too exasperated. Just busy. McKay was explaining something to her and the Ancient – _Chelani_, Jack reminded himself – and she was pointing out different sections of the device she'd built as he was speaking.

They all looked up when he arrived, and he made a gesture for her to join him if she were willing. She nodded, and excused herself for a minute, walking over to the other side of the room.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

He looked over her shoulder at McKay.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. Need a break?"

She smiled, realizing immediately what he was getting at.

"No, actually. He's not too bad, really."

Jack frowned.

"What?"

"Apparently he's mellowed a bit with age – or maybe with experience, I don't know. He's not being a jerk know it all – just a know it all, and I can handle that."

"He hasn't hit on you?"

She shook her head.

"Not yet."

"And he's not annoying you?"

"Nope. Believe it or not."

"I _don't_ believe it…"

She smiled again.

"I couldn't believe it at first, either. Don't get me wrong, he's arrogant and a little condescending when he's explaining something, but he knows his stuff and he's willing to tell me everything I want to know. It's just a matter of me remembering it all and understanding it."

"And do you?"

She nodded.

"Most of it, yeah."

"So I don't need to hover over you guys and keep him on a leash?"

"Probably not." She looked around. "Where's Jaffer?"

"He's sleeping with Colonel Brooks."

"Huh. _That_ says something, doesn't it?"

Jack shrugged. She already knew that he'd take Jaffer's acceptance of someone as a sure sign of their character, so he didn't really need to answer that question.

"You're not worried about all the paradox and stuff with having knowledge of the future?"

She hesitated and then shook her head.

"It's worth the risk. We'd be crazy to turn down any help we can get – especially since Ian's dead here and we're not going to be able to count on his help like his own reality has. We just won't ask him too much about our own futures and we should be fine."

Jack's expression grew a little sheepish, and she noticed immediately. And then smiled and shook her head.

"You already asked…?"

"Maybe a little…"

"And…?"

He shrugged.

"I'll tell you later. _Maybe_."

"That good, huh?"

He smiled.

"Well, let's just say-"

"_Excuse_ _me_?" McKay's voice was annoyed and impatient – and sounded a lot like the way he normally sounded when he was on base. "I'm trying to explain something here, and I can't explain it to the floor… so unless someone else is going to-"

"I'm coming," Sam interrupted, turning to look at him. She turned back to Jack. "We'll talk about it later."

"Need me to bring you anything?"

She shook her head.

"I'm good."

He watched as she went back to what she'd been doing, and then sighed. He really didn't have all that much to do, and while he could have watched her all day, Sam really didn't need him hanging around. Ian had his office – and his _dog_ – and Jacob had his daughter. Teal'c was silently guarding the room they were in, although he probably wasn't needed, and Daniel was off somewhere rifling through his books and other information sources, checking on all the legends of Atlantis to start cross referencing the story Ian had told them.

Jack was bored.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Ian was jarred awake by the sudden feeling that there was someone in the room with him. Trained as he had been by Teal'c, Jack and Bra'tac, it wasn't really that much of a surprise that he had good self preservation skills, and knowing – even soundly sleeping – who was around you, was a good way to keep from having strangers sneak up on you and put a knife in your back. Or a bullet somewhere equally awful.

The heavy weight of Jaffer – who was actually sprawled on him now instead of beside him – kept him from sitting up, but he managed to roll a little to the side to see what had woken him.

"I was wondering if you were going to make an appearance…" he said.

Alexander wasn't the same as he was in Ian's reality. Here, he seemed to be a solid presence, while in Ian's reality he was less corporeal but gave off a sense of power that Ian had never felt any other time. He also had never appeared to Ian unless he was asleep and now Ian was certain he was awake – there wasn't that dream-like quality to things that Ian normally felt.

"_You're_ certainly turning things upside down…" the Ancient said to him from where he was suddenly seated on the edge of Jack's desk. He looked exactly the same, but he also looked and sounded a little annoyed.

Ian rolled a bit more, maneuvering Jaffer off to the side so he could sit up. The black lab sat up, too, watching Alexander with interest, but not making any noise that showed one way or the other that he was aware of the connection between himself and the visitor.

"I didn't plan on this."

Alexander nodded.

"That makes two of us."

They watched each other for a moment, but Ian didn't know what the Ancient wanted, and he wasn't about to apologize for sharing what knowledge he had with the others.

"My daughter is worried."

"About what?"

"What you're going to tell Jack and the others."

"About _her_?"

"Yes."

He shook his head.

"I've already told them all they need to know."

"_More_ than they needed to know," Alexander told him.

"No. They needed to know what she is, because she can protect Shawn where they can't. Now they know, and now they know why he needs to be protected. And Jack knows that Shawn is his son, which will save Dotty the problem of telling him later. Nothing's really changed in that regard."

"She tells me that you told her you know the solution to the Asgard problem…"

"I do."

"You've solved it in your reality?"

"Yes."

"For certain?"

"Absolutely."

"How?"

Ian hesitated, and Alexander scowled.

"She told me of the deal she made with you. I will not renege on it, I just want to make sure you're not taking advantage of _her_ need to fulfill your own."

Ian gave him a quick outline of what he'd done, using Shawn and the Asgard at the same time. The Ancient listened with interest, but he finally shook his head.

"That won't work."

"It already has."

"We never would have thought of that. It's impossible."

"That's what you told me in my reality, too. But it _did_ work, and eventually the Asgard will be back to a close proximity of what they once were."

Alexander was clearly thinking it over, but Ian had a few questions of his own.

"In my reality you only come in dreams…"

"It's easier that way – and no one will remember the dream. But I wanted to get a good look at you, and to do that I needed to be in this form, where you would remember me, as well…"

Ian smiled, but didn't comment on that.

"Do you intend to tell Jack anything else you may know about me?" Alexander asked.

"No. He's better off not knowing about you as far as I'm concerned."

"Does he know about me in your time and place?"

"Nope."

The Ancient nodded.

"We really _do_ only want to help."

"I know that," Ian told him. "Can you fix the Asgard with the information I gave you, or will I need to stick around and do it myself?"

"Your friends will not leave without you."

"I know."

"And they are in danger the longer they stay."

"Yes."

"Your approach to the problem is crazy enough that it will most likely work. Dotty can handle it."

"Good. Then do me a favor…"

"If I can."

Ian hesitated, but this time it was because he suddenly found a lump in his throat he couldn't swallow.

"Don't let her get on an airplane. _Any_ airplane. _Ever_."

The Ancient looked at him sharply, but Ian didn't tell him anything else. Finally Alexander nodded again.

"I'll do that, Ian. Thank you."

"Yeah."

"I have given her the soluion needed to get you and your friends into the future. You will have to find the right reality yourselves, however."

"Thank you."

He nodded, waving away the thanks.

"Be safe."

With that, he was gone. Not in a flash of light or anything, just there one minute and gone the next. Ian waited, wondering if he was going to feel any kind of presence at all, but eventually he shrugged and slapped Jaffer on the shoulder.

"That was odd, eh?"

The lab rumbled, wagging his tail gently.

"Come on," Ian told him, getting up. "Let's go see what McKay and Sam are up to."

God knew he wasn't going to go back to sleep after that.


	24. Chapter 24

He'd only slept a couple of hours – and it felt like even less – but he felt a little better for having had the break. Walking back towards Sam's lab with Jaffer by his side, he replayed his conversation with Alexander in his mind a couple of times and decided that there really wasn't anything he could have said or done differently. Despite having the same people in this reality – except for himself, of course – it was a lot different than his own, and he understood what Dotty (the Dotty from the alternate reality from his own _and_ this one – and wouldn't _that_ get complicated if he stopped to think about it for any length of time) had told him about how different realities could be.

"They probably could do okay on their own…" he muttered to Jaffer, who rumbled an agreement. "But why not help them where I can?"

For that matter, the Sam here seemed to be even brighter than his own. She'd already made a _ZPM_ for crying out loud! Well, _almost_ made one, anyway. _His_ Sam hadn't even thought about it. _He_ hadn't even thought about it – even with the memories of the Ancients rattling around in his head.

He wondered briefly what Shawn was like at this age – it was before he'd met him, after all, but he didn't wonder enough to ask Jack to bring him onto the base so he could meet him. Same with River – who was probably about fourteen and somewhere off surfing with his parents. Probably hitting on all the Junior High school girls where ever he was.

He smiled at the thought and was still smiling when he walked into Sam's lab a minute later.

"That was a quick nap…"

Jack was sitting in a chair by the door, out of the way. He had a towel draped across his lap and was cleaning a Beretta – probably his own, although Ian decided it could have been Sam's – but he hadn't missed Ian's entrance. Or Jaffer, who came over to say hi but didn't get too close because he didn't like the smell of the gun oil.

"Had a weird dream," he told him. "How are they doing?"

McKay and Sam had their heads together over the device, and McKay was still alive and talking – which was a sure sign that he was behaving himself, at least a little.

Jack followed his glance and shrugged.

"Beats me. They sounded excited a minute ago – must be a good sign, right?"

"McKay's easily excited," Ian replied.

He walked over to them, nodding a hello to Chelani who was watching what was going on but wisely staying out of the way of the other two, who were muttering as Sam checked connections on her device and McKay compared readouts on his laptop to what he was seeing in front of him.

"Any luck?"

McKay looked up.

"She's a _genius_…"

Sam smiled, clearly surprised at the compliment, but no more so than Ian was. McKay was pretty stingy with his praise, so whatever he found, it had to be good.

"We knew that already, Rodney. Remember?"

"Yeah, well this thing is _incredibly_ advanced," he told Ian. He looked about as excited as Ian had ever seen him. "It's really a ZPM. I mean, as close to a homemade job as I could ever imagine. It needed a few high tech tweaks from yours truly, but we should actually have a working ZPM in less than an hour."

"So then we can go to Atlantis?" Jack asked, coming over.

McKay nodded.

"Should be able to, yes."

"You've checked the continuity of the power stream?" Ian asked. "Made sure that the polarization of the-"

"Yes, yes," McKay interrupted. "I've done all that. Most of it, anyway. The rest I can do once we get it hooked up to the stargate. You _do_ have one of the GADs, right?"

"GAD?" Jack echoed.

"Gate Activation Device…" Ian explained. "It lets you use the gate, even if there isn't a DHD attached."

"Really?" Sam asked. "_That's_ useful."

"Ian made it," Rodney told them, smugly. "_You've_ used one, too. Or at least _Cassie_ did. Presuming you were sent back to 1969 like the SG-1 in our reality was."

"The device she used to activate the stargate when we went into the future," Sam said, looking surprised.

McKay nodded.

"Where do you think she got it?"

Jack looked over at Ian.

"You know Cassie?"

He froze at the question, and Chelani chose that moment to speak up.

"If the device is ready, perhaps you and Colonel O'Neill should get your gear together for your trip?"

"I'm going, too," McKay reminded him, annoyed at being left out.

Jack scowled, well beyond uncertain about the wisdom of taking a civilian with them. Ian was military; he could tell that. McKay – despite the fact that Sam said he wasn't so bad in this reality – was just a scientist. And not a gun toting one like Sam, either.

"Sure you want to bring him?" he asked Ian, hopefully.

Ian nodded.

"I want to bring back three Gateships, Jack. Two for you guys to have and one for us to use to get us home."

"It'll be a lot safer," McKay mused, agreeing. "Especially if something happens and we don't end up in the right reality on our first try."

"You think that'll happen?" Sam asked.

McKay wasn't the only one to shake his head. Ian and Chelani both had more faith in the device than she did – because they all knew just how advanced it was. Not to mention there was no way McKay would cast doubt on a project he'd worked on.

"No. It'll work. But we believe in contingency plans," he told her. "It's one of the reasons we managed to find Ian so easily."

"It was not _that_ easy," Chelani objected.

McKay waved his hand dismissively.

"It wasn't that hard. We found him the first try, didn't we?"

"Yes. But-"

"Are we ready?" Ian interrupted.

McKay nodded, easily changing gears in mid conversation.

"We just need to suit up." He looked expectantly at O'Neill. "You _do_ have a spare gun I can use?"

Jack scowled again, completely uncomfortable with the whole idea of giving McKay a sidearm.

Sam just smiled.

"Chelani and I can set the device up at in the gateroom if you want to go get ready…"

"Thanks…"

She ignored the sarcasm, but Ian couldn't help the snort of amusement that escaped him.

Jack tossed him a dirty look, but then sighed.

"Come on… let's get this over with."


	25. Chapter 25

"You know, this really isn't necessary."

"Yes it is."

"No, really. I'm a _good_ shot. Ask Ian here. I can-"

Jack held up his hand to interrupt.

"McKay, there's no way in hell I'm going to give you a pistol – much less a _P90_ – until you prove to me you can shoot it with some semblance of accuracy."

"But-"

"Rodney." Now Ian interrupted him. "Just show him so we can get on with this."

The astrophysicist made an annoyed sound, but picked up the weapon off the table in front of them. With Jack and Ian both watching, he disassembled it and put it back together fairly quickly, and then loaded a clip and pointedly waited for them both to put on headgear to muffle the sounds of the shots. When they did, he aimed the P90 at the target down the indoor range and fired off a couple of well-controlled bursts. The bullets shredded the lower part of the target. Not center man, but good enough for a scientist who was far more comfortable with a laptop in his hand.

Jack looked over at Ian, who shrugged. He wasn't the one who'd taught McKay to shoot, but he was pleased that he'd made a decent showing of himself.

"Now the pistol," Jack said.

McKay rolled his eyes, but repeated the performance with the Beretta on the table, his aim a bit better with the handgun than it had been with the P90.

"Satisfied?" he asked, smugly, when he was done and had cleared the weapon and set it back down.

O'Neill nodded.

"Yeah." He looked over at Ian. "Your turn, Colonel."

McKay snorted, but Ian just took it in stride. He started with the P90, stripped it and reassembled it a lot faster than McKay had – although he was careful not to jam any parts together or show any sign of carelessness. Then he decimated the head of the target Jack had pointed out for him. The Beretta followed a minute later, and every round was in the chest of the same target.

"Not bad, huh?" McKay asked, grinning.

Jack nodded.

"Not at all."

It was what he expected from an Air Force Colonel, although he didn't say so.

"Doesn't hurt to make sure," Ian said, not at all offended at being tested. He would have done the same thing in Jack's shoes, he was sure. "You never know when you might be hit by friendly fire because _someone's_ inexperienced with the gun they're holding."

McKay rolled his eyes again.

"Please. It was a long time ago."

"It still _hurt_, Rodney."

"I _barely_ nicked you."

"Twice?"

Jack was gathering up the weapons, but he looked up at that.

"He shot you _twice_?"

"Hello? They were _ricochets_. They barely broke the skin."

Ian ignored him.

"On the plus side, he also managed to shoot himself at the same time."

"Oh, _that's_ mature…"

Jack smiled, handed Ian the P90s and they headed back to the armory.

"Tell me that he's better now."

Ian nodded.

"He's better, now. Doesn't panic like he used to."

"_And_ I'm a hell of a shot," McKay added.

"He has his moments," Ian conceded.

"Good."

They reached the armory and were outfitted with P90s and tac vests. Ian had already been given his Glock back, and Jack handed McKay a holster with a .45 in it, similar to the one he'd just fired. They all three made sure they had plenty of ammunition for each weapon – just because they were heading to what was supposed to be a secured (and empty) location, that didn't mean they were going to go without protection.

Once their preparations were complete, they headed back to the gate room where the others were waiting for them.

"All set?" Jack asked Sam as they entered the room.

She looked up from the laptop she'd attached her device to and nodded, looking a little worried, but Chelani also nodded.

"Everything is performing well within parameters, Colonel," he told him. "The device will hold steady and we even checked to make sure there are no solar activities that may cause issues."

"You're ready to go," Sam said. She looked at Jaffer, who had been following Jack. "Are you going to take him?"

Jack shook his head.

"He'll be fine here."

Jaffer wagged his tail cheerfully. He didn't like being left behind, but he also knew that as compensation, Sam would almost certainly give him a treat to make up for being abandoned.

McKay loaded his laptop into a sleeve that was designed to attach to the back of his vest and looked at the others.

"I'm ready."

Jack looked at Ian, who nodded, and then looked over his shoulder at the control center.

"Dial it up."

"Good luck," Hammond told them.

As the gate started to dial, Daniel shifted a little from beside Teal'c.

"I could go, you know…?" he told Jack. "Maybe you could use the help with translations or something."

"We're going to go and come right back, Daniel," Jack told him. "You'd be too tempted to-"

"I could control that."

Sam snorted, and he scowled at her, frustrated.

"I _could_."

"We'll bring you back a souvenir," Jack promised him as the gate finished dialing and swooshed active.

Ian stepped forward, first, but it only took a moment for McKay and Jack to catch up. An instant later they walked through the event horizon.

After only a slightly longer pause than usual, Jack stepped out on the other side, felt a slight tingle and found himself in a large, open room with a staircase almost directly in front of him. As Ian and McKay materialized beside him, he noticed one more important thing. The room wasn't deserted like the others had told him it'd be. Watching him from above, and from several closer positions only a short distance away were people. People who looked almost as shocked as Ian and McKay did.

"Oh my God…" McKay whispered, his face pale and his eyes wide. "They're Ancients…"


	26. Chapter 26

A woman standing only a short distance away walked forward, looking at them cautiously, but without a weapon in her hand as far as Jack could tell. He looked over at McKay.

"I thought you said this place was _deserted_…"

"Of course we are Ancients," she said, frowning, ignoring Jack in favor of answering McKay. "As _you_ must be as well, in order to have come through the shield unscathed…"

The three of them all looked back and McKay and Ian were shocked to see that the shield that protected Atlantis – _their_ Atlantis and presumably this one as well – was fully engaged.

"We should be dead," McKay said, stunned.

He hadn't even considered that there would be Ancients in the city – or that the shield would be up.

"Indeed?" the woman asked. "Are you invaders?"

Ian shook his head.

"No."

"You're not Ancient," a man challenged, walking down the stairs and toward them. Ian frowned, realizing he knew him, and trying to figure out where from.

"We're from Earth," Jack told them, having no reason to say otherwise. "We didn't know anyone was here…"

"Earth is a failed experiment," the man said, frowning. "No one lives there. No one _can_."

McKay shook his head, finally getting over his shock.

"You're talking about the plague?"

The man's eyes narrowed.

"What do _you_ know of it?"

He snorted.

"Quite a bit, actually. For one thing-"

"Holy shit…" Ian just realized where he knew the guy from – and had startled everyone with his sudden curse. "You're _Sander_."

The man actually took a shocked step backward, and the woman and those who were close enough to hear him all looked surprised. And extremely suspicious.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"I don't know you," Sander told him at the same time.

"I'm right, though, aren't I?" Ian asked. "You're the head Ancient around here."

"I don't understand…"

McKay frowned, too.

"I don't understand, either. _I've_ never met him. He's not from our reality, is he?"

Ian shook his head.

"No. I met him in another one – when Alexander and Dotty hijacked my gate on the way to the Alpha site."

Now McKay looked a little less confused, but Jack was still clueless, and so were the Ancients who were gathered around.

"Time for some introductions, I think," Jack said, trying to keep things from getting too far out of hand.

"Indeed," the woman agreed. "I am Nejay. Second in command in this city." She looked at Jack pointedly.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill. From Earth."

"I'm Rodney McKay," McKay told her, offering his hand. "_Doctor_ Rodney McKay. From Earth, too – but not the same reality as Colonel O'Neill here is…"

"And you?" Sander asked Ian. "Who are you?"

"Colonel Ian Brooks. I'm from the same place McKay is."

"But not _this_ reality?" Nejay asked, proving that she was managing to sort through all the confusion, despite being confused as well.

"No."

"We're from Earth," McKay repeated. "But _we_ –" and he pointed to himself and Ian. "_We_ are stationed here, in this city. In our reality, that is."

"I don't understand why you are in a reality that isn't your own…" Nejay said, frowning.

"It wasn't by choice," Ian told her.

"Well, actually," McKay said, holding up a hand. "_Mine_ was. I came looking for him when we realized he was lost and-"

"How did you circumvent the shield?" Sander interrupted.

The three of them turned a little to look at the shield again, and McKay shrugged.

"It must be designed with some kind of safety protocol," he guessed, looking over at Ian and Jack. "That way it doesn't kill any Ancient who goes through – it's not like they all carry GDOs with them or anything… Lucky thing for Doctor Jackson that you didn't let him come with us, because-"

"You didn't answer the question," Sander pointed out.

"We all have the Ancient gene," McKay told him, annoyed at the interruption. "Ian and Colonel O'Neill here carry it naturally, and I was given it in order to make the technology of Atlantis work for me."

Sander's gaze wandered from McKay, to Ian and then to Jack – only to go back to McKay.

_"Given?"_

McKay nodded.

"A friend of mine – a brilliant guy, really, only a little too self-depreciating in my opinion – found that the gene was carried over into a very small portion of our population. He managed to isolate it and reproduce it in a synthetic form, which allowed him to give it to those of us who were interested in the idea – although it only works in about half the test subjects." His smile was smug. "Like myself."

Ian managed to avoid rolling his eyes, but only just, and Jack just shook his head since this was all new information for him. And information he didn't care about.

"Look," he said, before Sander or any of the others could say anything else. "We didn't come here to start any trouble. We really did think the place was deserted."

Nejay gave him an odd look.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because the Asgard have told everyone that all you Ancients have moved on…" Ian answered before Jack could. "And in _our_ reality, you have. Atlantis lay abandoned for 10,000 years before we found it."

"Absurd!" Sander said. "Abandon Atlantis? Why would we do that?"

"I would assume because you couldn't teach the city how to Ascend…" McKay told him.

Ian closed his eyes and shook his head, wondering why he'd ever thought it was a good idea to bring Rodney. Of course, he hadn't expected there to be people here for McKay to annoy, so that really wasn't his fault. Luckily, instead of being offended, the comment only left them even more suspicious.

"You certainly know a lot about us…" Sander said, his expression and voice telling them that he wasn't really all that happy about it.

"You have no idea," McKay replied. "We've been-"

"I don't understand why you're here, though…" Ian interrupted before McKay could really get a head of steam going and start babbling about just how much he did know about the Ancients. Because it was a _lot_. "In my reality you people left a long, long time ago."

Nejay frowned, looking at Sander.

"Could they have solved the problem so quickly, where we have been unable to?"

"What problem?" McKay asked – predictably.

Sander hesitated, but Nejay answered for him.

"This system is plagued by a race of beings," she said. "A cruel race of beings who feed on the life force of-"

"You're talking about the _Wraith_," McKay interrupted.

"You know of them?" Sander asked.

McKay nodded.

"Oh, yeah. They're in our reality, too. Although-"

"The Wraith are in your reality and yet the Ancients are _not_?"

"Right."

Nejay looked at Ian for confirmation, and he nodded.

"I told you; they've been gone for at least 10,000 years."

"I don't believe it. How could they have Ascended without first dealing with the Wraith?"

It was Ian's turn to frown.

"They were getting their asses kicked, sank the city and abandoned ship," he told her. "What about you guys?"

"What do you mean?"

"He means, why are you still here?" Jack asked, not knowing exactly what they'd all been talking about but following the conversation nonetheless.

"Because we can't leave until we've solved the problem we created," Sander told him. "It would be unforgivable."

"Are you serious?" McKay asked, surprised.

"Is that such a shock?"

McKay hesitated, clearly not wanting to step on anyone's toes – not that he normally minded, but hey, these were actual Ancients!

"A little… yeah."

"Our Ancients seemed to pretty much cause more problems than they solved," Ian said, trying to be a little more diplomatic.

"And then left those problems to solve themselves or become worse…" Sander said, making it more of a statement than a question.

Ian nodded.

"But not _all_ of them," he added. "There are some really good ones still here – helping on Earth."

"Which brings us to why we're here…" Jack said, pulling everyone back on track.

"Oh?" Nejay looked at him. "And why is that?"

"We need a few of your Gateships," Ian said, trying to make it sound like the most ordinary request in the world.


	27. Chapter 27

Predictably, that went over like a ton of bricks.

"You came here to borrow our Gateships?" Sander asked.

"Technically," Rodney said. "We came here to _take_ them. We didn't know anyone would be here to ask."

Sander looked troubled, but Ian had a feeling it wasn't because McKay had mentioned they were there to steal a few space ships.

"Your need is that great?" he asked.

Jack nodded, surprised that they hadn't immediately kicked them back through the gate. He was pretty sure that would have been _his_ reaction if the tables had been turned.

"If these things are as good as Ian and McKay are telling me they are, they could make all the difference in the world to my people."

"In your battle with the Wraith?" Nijay asked Ian.

Ian shook his head.

"We – and by we I mean _McKay and I_ – plan to use one to get back to our reality. Jack and the people of Earth need a couple for their problem with the Goa'uld."

"We've pretty much got the _Wraith_ problem taken care of in our reality," Rodney added, smugly. "But-"

"You have a way to defeat the Wraith?" Sander asked.

Ian flashed McKay yet another annoyed look, but he nodded.

"We're _pretty sure_ we do."

It was the reason he'd been heading to Earth in the first place. To deliver a report to Jack about just that.

"But you said the Ancients in your reality are gone…" Nijay reminded him.

McKay snorted.

"But _Cassandra Brooks_ isn't. Between her and Carson Beckett – and a small army of xeno-bacteriologists – they've had some luck with a certain virus and the Wraith have been dropping like flies." He hesitated, frowning. "Flies that suck the life out of you with their hands, that is…"

"An illness?" Sander asked, clearly interested – but also looking skeptical. "We've tried several different-"

"Yes, yes," McKay interrupted. "We know all about them. _We've_ had access to your computer files for years, now."

"Rodney…" Ian didn't like the smugness, and there was no reason to alienate the Ancients with it. Especially if they wanted to get what they'd come for. "Why don't we just let them see what we've got? They can decide if it'll suit their needs or not, and then we can get going…"

"Which would be a great idea," Rodney told him. "Regrettably, I left my laptop back at the SGC."

"What?"

There were rumors that McKay slept and actually _bathed_ with the damned thing.

"I'm _sorry_," he said, immediately on the defensive. "I didn't see the need to bring it – so I gave it to Sam so she could start in on the-"

"You have a way to kill the Wraith?" Sander asked, again.

"Hello?" McKay asked. "Didn't I just _say_ that?"

_"Rodney!"_

Ian looked over at Sander – after another killer gaze in McKay's direction.

"Yes. We can kill the Wraith. _And_ the ships they travel in."

"You can kill their _ships_?" Jack asked.

"The Wraith hive ships are organic," Nijay told him. "We have known that for a long time. We were not aware that they could be killed, however…"

"_You_ never had the chance to have Ian put a hand on one of them and –"

"Maybe we should sit down and discuss this…" Sander suggested.

Now it was Jack's turn to hesitate.

"I don't know how much time we really have to hang out and socialize…"

"If you are willing to help us with the Wraith, we will give you all three of the gateships you have requested."

"_And_ a couple of Zed PMs?" McKay asked.

"ZedPMs?"

"The energy sources you use to power this city – as well as all of those very cool outposts that we've found throughout Pegasus… _We_ call them Zero Point Modules because the energy is derived through accessing-"

"They get it, McKay," Jack interrupted. "Do we really need one of these things?"

"No. You need _two_. One for the chair device in Antarctica and one to power your Stargate so you'll be able to come back here in the future."

O'Neill looked over at Ian, who looked at Sander.

"Do you have extras?"

The Ancient nodded.

"We do. Will you share your knowledge with us?"

"We don't have McKay's laptop," Jack told them. "If you get us back we could-"

"We don't _need_ my laptop," Rodney interrupted. 'Not right now, anyway."

"What? Why not?"

"Because Ian here is intimately – and in this case I really _do_ mean _intimately_ – familiar with one of the Doctors who developed the disease in the first place. I'll bet he heard as much about the processes as I have. Only I don't have a photographic memory and he does."

Ian sighed, but he nodded.

"I can probably get you guys started. Well enough that you can at least understand the basics of the research. We can leave the rest of the information – which will be most of it because it'd take way too long for me to explain all the really complicated stuff without any of the past experiments to show you – with the SGC on Earth before we go."

"And we'll be happy to bring it back to you," Jack assured him.

"_And_ in return, you can teach him how to use the chair device…" McKay added.

The Ancients who had overheard it all looked at Sander, who glanced over to Nijay. She nodded, and he turned to the trio in front of him.

"We'd be fools not to accept your offer. Especially since it gives us the chance to reunite with those people of Earth…"

Rodney smiled, smugly.

"Great! Let's get to it, shall we?"

He headed out of the room, followed by Sander and Nijay and then Ian and Jack.

O'Neill looked over at Ian.

"Cassandra Brooks?"


	28. Chapter 28

Ian returned his look steadily.

"I was wondering if you were going to catch that."

"He's referring to Cassandra _Fraiser_?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you mention it?"

"Because I was hoping it wouldn't come up."

"It's a sensitive subject with you?"

Ian snorted.

"It _was_ a sensitive subject with you and Janet."

Jack made an uncommitted sound and watched as McKay and the others disappeared ahead of them, turning a corner.

"What do you think of these guys?" he asked, changing the subject - which surprised Ian enough that he hesitated before answering.

"They're not like the Ancients I've heard of…"

"We don't know a lot about the Ancients, but they're not like what we heard, either. You really did recognize Sander?"

"Yeah. I've met him."

"In a different reality, though."

"Still the same guy, Jack."

"Think he's legit?"

"Do I think he's an Ancient, you mean?"

"No. Do you think he'll screw us after he gets what he wants from us?"

Ian shook his head.

"He seems pretty sincere. Besides, even if he cuts you off, you'll still have the better of the deal."

"Howso?"

"Rodney and I will make sure that the ZPMs we get from these guys are charged before we leave _here_. You have two fully charged ZPMs and you've got a way to keep the Goa'uld away from Earth."

"With this weapon in Antarctica you were talking about?"

"Yeah. It'll keep them away, trust me."

"And if they get ahold of it?"

"It won't work for anyone who doesn't have the Ancient gene," Ian pointed out as they neared the conference room that he and the others back on Atlantis always used for larger groups. Clearly Rodney and the others had decided to use it, too. "Neither will the Gateships, so you don't have to worry about them falling into the wrong hands."

"Which his a relief, I suppose."

"Even better, these guys will take care of the Wraith for you before you guys even start considering the Pegasus system."

"With the disease that Cassie and this Beckett guy come up with…?"

Ian smiled.

"It's lethal to them, and safe for us. Trust me."

"Hey! We're not getting any younger in here…"

Jack scowled and went through the door followed by Ian, who was surprised to see that not only were Nijay, Sander and Rodney there, but so were several other Ancients who had apparently been called to join the meeting. Rodney gestured for Ian to join him at the front of the room and Jack was waved into a corner, where Sander handed him a device that looked a little like a headset.

"Doctor McKay tells us that your people will be expecting you to return shortly, since they believe as you did that this city is abandoned. We will open the stargate if you wish to contact them and assure them you are well – and are just being delayed but not endangered."

Jack nodded. He hadn't considered it, but it was a good idea. And it also meant that they were probably going to be there a while. Although he wasn't sure just how much information Ian could give these guys without having any hard copies of anything.

"Thanks."

"And while he's doing that," McKay said, still smug. "_You_ should start taking notes."

He gestured to Ian, who bit back any kind of comment he was going to make and instead addressed the small crowd.

"We'll start with the genetic make up of the Wraith," he told them, figuring it was as good a place to start as any. "From there I'll explain to you the differences between several options my people were working on – from everything to trying and discourage the Wraith from using humans as a food source by setting up different enzymes in human blood that made it impossible for them to feed, all the way down to what we finally came up with – which is a method of killing the Wraith directly, using their own biological ships and the mental link between their entire species…"

Jack couldn't help but stare for just a moment at the way he'd spouted all that off, sounding a lot like Sam when he did. Clearly he knew what he was talking about, anyway. He shook his head as Ian started discussing some kind of disease that a group of people on another planet had developed to poison the Wraith and moved a little further out of the way, nodding to the Ancient who was waiting on him.

OOOOOOOOOO

"So you don't think you'll be home for dinner?"

Sam looked over at Daniel and Teal'c, but both of them were calm. Jack had given them all a rundown of what had happened so far in Atlantis, and he sounded fairly confident that things were well in hand.

_"I doubt it. Brooks is lecturing them right now about some kind of mitochondrial DNA or something, and I don't think any of them have moved more than what it takes to check a reference on their laptops – or whatever these things are that they're using. We'll probably be here a while."_

"And you feel no threat to you or the others?" Teal'c asked.

_"Nah, I don't think so. Just keep working on whatever you're working on. We'll be back as soon as we can."_

He cut the connection before he could slip and tell her he loved her – or something equally mushy and wildly inappropriate for military channels – and turned back to watch Ian and the others. From the way they were acting, none of Ancients even remembered he was there, and McKay looked like he was having the time of his life, cutting in and explaining various topics Ian was bringing up one at a time.

He sighed and sat down in an empty chair that had been left for him, leaned back against the wall and waited.

It was going to be a long day…


	29. Chapter 29

_Author's note: Due to a communications issue I've had to change over to a different forum than the one I've been using to post links to this story and discussions about the chapters. If you look in my profile here, you'll see the link to that forum. Come and join us!_

OOOOOOOOOO

"Bored yet?"

O'Neill stretched and nodded, grateful that Ian had called a break to things – even though _he_ wasn't actually sitting in on the lecture that was being given. The Ancients seemed to grumble a little about stopping, but they had brought in refreshments and a data pad for McKay to use since he didn't have his laptop. Now they were standing in a group off to the side obviously discussing the information they'd been given so far.

"How are you doing that without any notes?"

"Giving them so much information, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"He has a photographic memory," McKay told them, coming over with a cup of something hot and steaming in his hand. "If he's heard it, he'll remember it."

Jack looked over at Ian, who nodded.

"Pretty much."

"That's a handy trick…"

"Yeah. Most of the time."

"His kids are the same way," Rodney told him, almost as proud as if they were his boys instead of Ian's. "They're well on their way to being geniuses. Of course, they've spent pretty much their entire lives on Atlantis, hanging out with the most brilliant people in the universe, so I-"

"Got a picture?" Jack asked Ian, interrupting McKay without hesitation.

Ian reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Normally there was no way he'd have been carrying his wallet along with him on a mission, but he'd been heading to Earth, not some far away Jaffa world, and there were times when he actually needed it – especially since he tended to get pictures of the boys done in wallet sized so he could carry them and show them off to one or two sets of grandparents.

He handed Jack a small stack of pictures, and O'Neill smiled.

"You're one of _those_, huh?"

"One of what?"

"Those dads that keep a million pictures of their kids handy for the first poor sap that makes the mistake of asking about the kids…"

"And you're not?" Ian challenged.

"Pffft," Jack waved his hand dismissively. "I don't need _pictures_ to – this is Cassie?"

Since McKay had been looking over O'Neill's shoulder, he was the one who nodded.

"Yup, that's her – with Carter."

Since the boy looked exactly the same as the one in Ian's arm in the picture Jack just nodded, taking McKay's word for it.

"She's beautiful," he murmured. "I knew she'd grow up to be a knock out." He looked at Ian. "And a _doctor_, huh?"

"A genius," Ian told him. "Between her and Beckett the Wraith didn't have a chance."

"Janet must be proud."

"I'd like to think she is, yeah."

He looked through all the pictures, stopping occasionally when he found one with an interesting pose – and one that had both twins being held upside down by their ankles. By him. He was wearing a polo shirt and slacks, holding one ankle in each hand and grinning as broadly as the boys were.

"That was taken about a year ago," Ian told him.

"That's me…"

It was so odd seeing a picture of himself, especially since he'd never even met the two boys he was laughing so easily with.

McKay nodded.

"Weird, huh? To see yourself aged more than ten years… I…" he trailed off as the Ancients filed back into the center of the room, each of them holding a data pad as well. "Woops, looks like we're ready for Wraith Killing 201," he told Ian, picking up the data pad they'd given him.

"Great."

Jack couldn't hide the sarcasm in his voice and Ian smiled. Sander, however, had heard it as well as he walked over, and he, too, smiled.

"Colonel O'Neill? I was wondering if you would care to skip the intelligence report in lieu of perhaps being given a tour of the city? Ian and Doctor McKay are already familiar with it, or I would extend them the invitation as well, but since you do not seem to have much to include in the briefing, I cannot help but think you'd find it more enjoyable to have something a little more active to do."

Jack looked over at Ian, hopefully.

"Do you need me?"

Ian shook his head.

"Maybe they can teach you to pilot one of the Gateships. That'd save us some time later."

Sander nodded.

"I can arrange a lesson."

Since Jack was going to have some part in the reunion of Ancient and Earthling, he figured knowing something about the city they were living in – and the people in her – wasn't such a bad idea. Learning how to fly one of their ships was even better. And getting away from what had to be one of the most boring discussions about Wraith DNA was just an added bonus.

"How much longer are you going to be?" he asked Ian.

Ian looked over at Rodney, who shrugged.

"A couple of hours?"

"Yeah, probably about that."

"Enough time to see some sights and still get that lesson?" Jack asked Sander.

"Certainly." The Ancient waved Nijay over. "Nijay will show you around. Let her know if there is anything you require."

His second in command gave him a slight bow and then turned to O'Neill with another bow.

"What would you like to see first, Colonel O'Neill?"

Jack shrugged, uncertain what there even was to see, really.

"Take him to the observation deck on the tallest tower," Ian suggested. "That way he can get an idea of just how big the city is."

She nodded and gestured for Jack to precede her through the door, and Sander turned to the others.

"Shall we get started?"

The Ancient didn't understand how Ian could remember as much as he seemed to remember, but they weren't going to waste time asking about it.


	30. Chapter 30

"This place is _amazing_…"

Nijay smiled proudly.

"Thank you, Colonel O'Neill. It is one of our greatest achievements."

Jack looked over a little skeptically. They'd only been walking for about ten minutes, and hadn't yet made it to the tower they were heading for, but what he'd seen so far was impressive.

"Even better than the Stargates?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"The Stargates have become an instrument of evil in many cases. Allowing greater races to have access to those who have not yet developed and causing many more problems than my people initially intended."

"Hind sight is 20/20," he told her, shrugging. "You can't call them _evil_, though. We've found a lot of great people because of them."

"And many you would prefer to have never met, I imagine."

He nodded.

"Some. But one of my team is a Jaffa, and he's saved my life more times than I can count. Without the gate, we never would have met."

She smiled, palming a door frame to open it, and revealing what he thought was a closet.

"Not many can claim friendship with a Jaffa, Colonel."

"Teal'c's a special case," Jack told her, hesitating when she beckoned for him to join her in the closet. "What is-"

"A transport room," she answered before he could even get it all out. "The view is quite worth the walk, but this will save us much time – especially if you want a lesson in the Gateship."

He nodded and joined her, the door closing right behind him, and she touched a panel on the wall next to him. A moment later the door opened again, to a completely different hallway.

"I hope someday to meet your friend Teal'c," she said, continuing the conversation. "Do you think he would be interested in coming here?"

She palmed another door, and sunlight and fresh air suddenly embraced him. He stepped out onto what could only be called a balcony, and found himself looking down at a large section of the city from a very high distance. It was amazing. He walked to the edge, putting his hand on the railing as he leaned over to see how high up he was. All around the city – as near as he could tell from where he was – there was ocean, with no land in sight. The elegant lines of the city below complimented the clear blue water instead of contrasting against it, and he shook his head.

"I'd say he'd be _very_ interested in coming here…" he told her.

Who wouldn't?

She allowed him to look for quite a while before she touched his elbow to get his attention.

"Shall we move on to your Gateship lesson?"

He nodded, excitement at the thought of flying a new craft warring with the desire to stay on the balcony and enjoy the view a while longer.

"So… how's the fishing around here?" he asked as the door closed behind them.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"The biggest issue we've had with this thing is the delivery system," Ian told the group of Ancients. "There are a lot of Wraith out there roaming around, and they're not waiting for us – especially now that they know that we can fight back."

"_Our_ ships are a match for theirs," McKay added, "But we don't have anywhere near as many as they do, and we're spread a bit thin with the Goa'uld in our own system and the Wraith here."

"Not to mention they still can block out our beaming technology with their frequency jammers," Ian said, more than willing to admit that they didn't have all the answers. "But we've infected several hive ships with this disease – mainly on covert missions – and they've all been found drifting with their crews completely wiped out."

"The mortality rate is 100 percent?" one of the Ancients asked.

Rodney nodded.

"We hope to infect them all before they figure out an antidote. You guys have a lot more technology than we do – and a lot more mobility. You should be able to get them all within a year of having the virus ready to go. We figure it'll take us about three times that."

"Assuming they don't figure out how to cure it before we wipe them out," Ian mentioned.

"Which is why you want our Gateships?"

"No. The plan was to give two to Colonel O'Neill for their fight with the _Goa'uld_. We planned on using the other one as a contingency in case we don't hit the right reality the first try on our way back to our own."

"Two Gateships is not much help against a powerful enemy like the Goa'uld," Sander pointed out.

"It's better than none," Ian told him. "We didn't have a lot of time to test for other people with the gene that allows us to use them since Rodney and Jim both need to get out of this reality as soon as we can."

"With relations established between our peoples, we can assist them with their fight," Sander said. "Especially if this virus you have shown us is as effective as you say it is."

Since Ian had hoped to hear just that, he nodded, hiding his relief but feeling it all the same.

"The hard copy of all this information is at the SGC," he told them. "So once you and the SGC get your relations established, you'll have whatever we don't give you today. We're also giving them information on how to make a shield – one that's similar to yours, but doesn't discriminate on the Ancient gene, so you'll want to make sure you announce yourself before going through."

"Otherwise you'll be giving a great imitation of a bug zapper," McKay added.

They didn't understand the reference exactly, but none of them needed to to understand what was being said.

"We'll make sure they know we're coming before we arrive," Sander assured them. "It wouldn't do to-"

He was interrupted by an explosion that seemed to come from everywhere at once, and the tower they were in shuddered for a long moment before going still once more. Pieces of debris rained down on them, and alarms were blaring all over the place. Ian hadn't had a lot of chance to duck, but McKay had dodged under the table, pale and startled.

"Wraith?" he asked Sander, who had also sought cover under the table and was now emerging with several of the others.

The Ancient shook his head.

"Come with me. Both of you."

He led the way out of the room and down the corridor into a nearby section of the tower. Here there was more rubble, a lot of dust and some smoke. It looked a lot like an explosion to Ian, but he couldn't figure out what had caused it. In their reality this section wasn't used for experiments or even storage of anything combustible. It was a combination of meeting rooms and some offices.

He followed Sander into one of the rooms and found a gaping hole in the side of the wall, sunshine filtering in through the dust and smoke. In the middle of the floor, surrounded by more rubble and debris was a crumpled looking Gateship.


	31. Chapter 31

"Jack!"

Ian knew right away that Jack was in the Gateship and couldn't even begin to think how he'd explain getting him killed to Sam when they'd already said the place seemed harmless. He hurried forward, toward the rear hatch where several Ancients had already gathered.

"I'm all right," Jack muttered, staggering out of the hatch and shaking off the assistance of the others, scowling something fierce and bleeding from a gash that started somewhere well above his hairline but was streaking his forehead and left cheek a brilliant crimson. He tripped over the ramp and would have stumbled if Ian hadn't grabbed his arm to support him.

"What happened?" McKay asked, looking over at Nijay, who was also staggering, bedraggled and bloodied.

"It's not as easy to fly as you promised, Brooks," Jack grumbled, touching his head with a wince, and frowning when it came away bloody. Undoubtedly, he was trying to figure out how to explain to Sam how he'd managed to get hurt learning to fly a craft that had been billed as the easiest thing to fly in the world.

Not to mention, _McKay_ could fly one.

"There is a mental quality to the controls, Colonel," Nijay told him as Sander reached over and touched her cheek, healing the twin gashes on her face where she'd obviously hit something sharp. "You were unwilling to allow the ship access to your mind, and trust it to do your bidding…"

It was clear she'd tried to explain this concept to him at the start of their lesson, but Jack hadn't understood it – and had either been too impatient to ask, or had been unwilling to allow her to know that he didn't have a clue what she'd meant.

Ian had been taking care of Jack's injuries while Nijay had explained to him what had happened, but O'Neill didn't even notice.

"Ships just don't read minds," he complained.

"_These_ do," Rodney told him. "And they do it very well." He looked at the mess in the demolished room – and the destroyed Gateship. "Obviously it wanted to go one direction, and you forced it to go the other way. You should have just allowed it to pick the best route and you wouldn't have-"

"McKay…"

Ian smiled at the defeat in Jack's tone, and didn't hide it fast enough for it not to be noticed. Now Jack's scowl was all for him.

"And I suppose you did it perfectly your first try?"

"I took out most of the docking bay of a Goa'uld mother ship," Ian admitted.

"I was fine the first time I flew solo," McKay told them, smugly.

"That's because you weren't allowed to go solo for almost a year…" Ian pointed out.

Jack turned to Nijay, his annoyance mostly gone and other – more important things – now on his mind.

"Are you okay?"

She smiled.

"I'm fine."

"And so are you, thanks to your friend," Sander said, looking at Ian.

"Hey… this broken one doesn't count toward our total, does it?" McKay asked, suddenly. "I mean, we don't really have the time to fix it and they don't really have the technology yet to-"

"We have several others," Sander assured him, still watching Ian. "You look unsteady…"

Jack and McKay both looked over at him, but Ian scowled.

"I'm fine."

"You do look a little tired," McKay told him. "Maybe you should take a break. I can-"

"I'm not tired," Ian interrupted. "I'm just a little…" he floundered for a good word, but couldn't think of anything.

"Tired?" Jack asked.

"No."

"Hungry?" McKay asked, more used to Ian's moods than Jack was, and more familiar with the aftermath of healing someone. Of course, Jack hadn't been all that badly injured, but Rodney knew it'd been a while since Ian had had anything to eat – come to think of it, _he_ hadn't had anything to eat for a while, either. "Maybe we can get some lunch… or breakfast, or whatever meals we're on right now."

Ian shook his head.

"I'll eat later. Why don't you go finish the lecture with the others, and I'll help Nijay here teach Jack how to fly. That way we don't risk any more Gateships than we've already destroyed."

"It's not a total loss," Jack muttered, wiping his face with a cloth one of the Ancients had handed him. "Maybe if they put wings on the damned things they'd-"

"Never fit through the stargate," Rodney pointed out. 'The drive pods are perfectly designed. It's not their fault you can't fly them."

"Are you going to finish my lecture or not?" Ian asked, hoping to keep this Jack from going ballistic with McKay.

"I think we need-"

"You need my help with it?" Ian interrupted.

Now it was Rodney's turn to shake his head.

"No. I'm pretty sure I understand the theory behind the-"

Ian turned to Sander.

"Don't misunderstand me," he said, far more diplomatically than anyone who had known him as a young man would have ever believed he was capable of. "I'm not trying to rush things, but we have people waiting back home, and they're going to start to worry eventually if we don't get back."

Sander nodded.

"I understand, Ian Brooks. You have been away from your time for too long as it is, I'm sure."

Too long away from Cassie and the boys, that was certain – but Ian didn't say that. Instead he simply nodded.

"Anubis and the rest of the Goa'uld are going to wait any longer than they have to," Jack said, looking over the ship he'd mangled. "The sooner we can get back and get started on defense – and some offense – the better."

"The sooner you stop fighting the mental aspect of flying the Gateship the sooner you will master flying them," Nijay told him with far more patience than Ian would have had for someone who had flown him through a building.

"It's not as hard as you think," Ian said. "Trust me."

Jack just muttered something they couldn't hear clearly – and probably didn't want to – and turned back to the mess he'd made.

"You're the same one who told me this place was deserted," he reminded him.

Ian shrugged.

"I can't be right all the time…"


	32. Chapter 32

"It's been too long…"

There was no disguising the worry in Cassandra Brooks' voice and River Hayden knew her too well for her to have been able to hide that concern from him even if she'd tried. He shook his head and looked down over the embarkation area and the Stargate that dominated the room below.

"It's only been a day, Cass."

"Almost _two_ days, River," she corrected, looking down as well – as she had been almost nonstop for the past day and a half since she'd last spoken to Rodney McKay. "If Rodney found him, they'd be back by now."

"He found him. There's no way he and Chelani missed the right reality. It's probably taking them a while to make sure they're going to make it back to the right time is all…"

She looked over at him, still amazed at how good looking he was, and wondering why someone as sweet as he was couldn't seem to settle down with anyone for more than a couple of months.

"The three of them are probably the smartest people on the _planet_, River… there's-"

"It still takes time, lady," River interrupted. "And you know it. How long did it take you and Beckett to make that Wraith killer?"

"That's different."

"No it's not, and you know it. It could take a couple more days, who knows?"

She sighed, but didn't argue. It was impossible to win an argument with River Hayden – at least when he was right – because he was just as intelligent as anyone else on Atlantis, and had been hanging out with Ian long enough to be very good at winning arguments.

River knew that she wanted to go to Earth and wait at the SGC with her mother's solid presence to reassure her that everything was okay, but Cassie couldn't go because she hadn't told the boys what was going on and if she went to Earth, they'd be expecting to see their father, which would force the issue sooner than she was ready to bring it up. Instead, she stayed on Atlantis, trying to hide her worry from her sons and keeping an eye on the gate every chance she had.

He put his arm around her shoulder, hugging her reassuringly as he could.

"Don't worry, Cass. He'll be back before you know it."

She rested her head on his shoulder, and looped her own arm around his waist, taking the comfort he was offering.

"I hope so."

River squeezed her soundly, a silent warning to her that whatever he was going to say next was going to be something unexpected.

"Of course, if he _doesn't_ come back you can always marry _me_…"

She snorted, and smiled for the first time in what seemed to be far too long.

Which had been the whole point, she knew – and loved him for it.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"You know… I _think_ I've got this thing figured out…"

Ian nodded.

They'd been flying over the ocean around Atlantis for several hours, giving Jack time to get acquainted with the whole idea of having a ship that reads his mind and doesn't have wings still keeping them up. It'd been a bit shaky at first, and Nijay had patiently explained the whole mental interface with Jack while Ian had clutched what passed for a dash board on the Gateship with knuckles that got whiter and whiter as the time had passed.

Then they'd taken Jack over the mainland, giving him a chance to learn how to land without crashing. After several attempts – all of which were smooth as glass, proving that Jack was a fast learner no matter what he was flying – Ian had him head back towards Atlantis, although it wasn't a direct flight since they had the time and it would be a good idea to give O'Neill as much time as possible behind the controls.

"You're doing great…" Ian said, through clenched teeth.

"Then why do you look like we're ready to crash any minute?"

Ian didn't even bother to look apologetic. That would have required more of his attention than he was willing to spare.

"You're fine…" he repeated.

Nijay nodded from her position right behind Ian, where she'd been able to watch Jack at the controls and give what advice she could.

"He's correct, Colonel. You're doing very well."

"Ian looks ready to throw up…" Jack pointed out. "Is it something he's getting from the ship that I'm not?"

"It doesn't work like that," the Ancient told him. She couldn't really see Ian's face, so couldn't read his expression. "Perhaps he isn't feeling well."

"I'm fine," Ian told them both.

"What are you going to do when you have to teach those boys of yours how to drive?" he asked. "You're going to have to be a bit more reassuring than you are right now.

"It's not your _driving_," Ian answered. "I'll just be better when we land."

Jack looked over surprised, and then realization hit.

"You're afraid to _fly_?"

Ian scowled.

"Do you have it down well enough to be able to teach others?"

"It's not that hard," O'Neill pointed out, still not looking away from Ian. "I can't believe you're afraid to fly…"

"I'm not afraid to _fly_," Ian told him, curtly. "I'm just not all that fond of the idea of _crashing_."

"I'm not going to crash."

"You have already crashed _one_ Gateship," Nijay replied helpfully. "It's not so far-fetched that he might be concerned that you'll do it again."

Now Jack transferred his gaze to the Ancient behind Ian.

"Thanks."

She missed the sarcasm completely, and smiled.

"You're welcome. Now tell the ship what to do…"

The Gateship turned as Jack pulled his attention back to what he was supposed to be doing, but even as they headed back to Atlantis he was still shaking his head in amazement. It wasn't unthinkable that someone could be afraid to fly – or crash – but he already knew that Ian could and had flown the Gateships. Which meant that the guy was able to overcome those fears when he needed to. Which was probably why his other self in Ian's reality liked him enough to be good friends with him.

OOOOOOOOOO

McKay and Sander met them at the Gateship bay when they landed. Ian was the first out the rear hatch, but the others weren't far behind.

"How did it go?" Sander asked.

"The landing looked a lot smoother than your last attempt," McKay added as Jack emerged.

O'Neill scowled, but Nijay answered for him.

"He did very well."

"Is he ready?"

Ian nodded.

"Yeah. He's got it down. How are we looking here?"

"We're ready to go," McKay told him. "They know everything we can tell them about the virus – Colonel O'Neill and his people can bring them the hard data you brought with you when you hit this reality – and they're going to set us up with three of the Gateships, sans the one O'Neill crashed."

Ian nodded, feeling a little smug at Jack's annoyed look. That's what he got for teasing him about being afraid to fly. He looked over at Sander.

"And the ZPMs?"

"We're pulling a couple for you, now," the Ancient assured him. "Both are fully charged and ready for use."

McKay nodded, excited, even though he wasn't going to end up with either of the ZPMs.

"We should be back in time for dinner."

Ah. That explained it.

Ian nodded again.

"Let's get set, then."

He was all for getting on their way.


	33. Chapter 33

The embarkation room in the SGC had a retractable ceiling – so to speak. Which came in handy at the moment, because there was no way that the Gateships they were going to be seeing in only a few minutes were going to all fit inside Cheyenne Mountain. Sam Carter looked up – _way up_ – into the gray sky overhead and couldn't help but feel giddy with excitement.

"Do you realize we're going to have Ancient ships here?" she asked Daniel, who was standing beside her. "Actual _Ancient_ ships. All to ourselves for all sorts of scientific-"

"The Ancients will be coming eventually," Daniel reminded her. "They'll probably be more than willing to help you understand anything that you haven't figured out by the time they come."

She looked over, smiling.

"You're just excited that they're Ancients."

He nodded, but wasn't quite as giddy as she was – even though he was normally far more excitable than she was.

"I've already had a chance to interrogate Chelani," he reminded her. "And he gave me a complete Rosetta Stone of Ancient text, which will help me translate all the ruins from that-"

"We won't need to worry about ruins, though, Daniel…" Sam pointed out. "Not _Ancient_ ruins, anyway. We'll have the living thing right in front of us to ask."

Daniel shrugged.

"I like ruins."

Sam smiled, thinking he was probably feeling like that dinosaur guy in the movie _Jurassic Park_ would have felt seeing all the dinosaurs in the flesh after a lifetime of studying them.

"This is a _good_ thing, though, right?" she asked, wondering if he was feeling uneasy about having finally met the race that they'd been seeking so long.

He looked over at her and nodded, a faint smile on his handsome features.

"It's better than good, Sam."

Teal'c and Chelani came over to join them at that moment, not looking up, but looking at the stargate, which was active when they arrived but shut down only a moment later.

"Colonel O'Neill reports that they will begin arriving in five minutes," Teal'c told them. "He suggested that we vacate the embarkation room in the event of an unforeseen accident."

Sam looked over.

"He's worried about crashing?"

Teal'c shrugged.

"Perhaps he is more concerned about Doctor McKay or Ian Brooks crashing."

Chelani shook his head.

"Both of them are accomplished Gateship pilots," the Ancient told them. "I wouldn't worry too much, however. It is almost _impossible_ to crash a Gateship. They practically fly themselves."

OOOOOOOOO

"You're sure you're okay to fly this thing?"

McKay waved aside Jack's question impatiently, even though he knew he didn't look all that comfortable at the controls of the Gateship he was sitting in.

"I'm fine, Mr. Pre- _Colonel_. Trust me, _I'm_ a lot better at this than _you_ are."

Jack hesitated, but shrugged and slapped McKay on the shoulder as he turned to go.

"Try not to crash into the control area of the SGC, okay?"

McKay snorted, not bothering to look up from the preflight he was doing.

"I was going to tell you the same thing."

O'Neill scowled, but ignored the parting shot and headed out to the Gateship bay. Ian was checking out the Gateship he was going to be flying, doing an external preflight inspection for him, although he'd already pointed out the things that Jack should look for when he did his own in the future – and had promised to write it down before he and the others left for their own time and place.

"Are you all right, Colonel?" Sander asked, looking up as Jack approached.

Jack nodded, losing the scowl in anticipation of bringing home such potent weapons to add to their arsenal of Goa'uld fighting technology.

"Just anxious, I suppose."

"The ZPMs are stable, Jack," Ian told him, coming over to have a final word with him and the Ancients before they left. "They're not going to blow up or anything – no matter how hard you crash into the concrete wall at the SGC."

"That's cute, Brooks."

Ian grinned, not at all repentant. He wasn't worried that Jack was going to crash. Once they emerged from the stargate at the SGC the Gateships would automatically stop and hover. Then it would simply be a matter of telling them to go up through the hole in the ceiling and flying them out to the parking area that was already being prepared – according to Sam.

"It's going to be you, then McKay and I'll bring up the rear," he told him.

Jack nodded.

"That's fine. How long between each?"

"Five minutes or so should be enough – but we'll go ten just to make sure."

"Is Doctor McKay ready to depart?" Sander asked.

"He's doing a preflight now," Jack told him. He looked at Ian. "You okay?"

Brooks nodded.

"Just tired. Get ready to go, Jack. We'll see you on the other side."

O'Neill nodded and offered his hand to Sander.

"Thank you."

The Ancient took his hand, uncertain what they were doing, but pretty sure it was a greeting or a way of saying good-bye for the humans.

"You are welcome, Colonel O'Neill. We will be contacting you as soon as we have had a chance to study all that we have been shown so far. However, should the Goa'uld come to your world sooner than expected, feel free to call on us if you require assistance."

"We will."

Jack nodded to Ian, and then headed for the Gateship. A moment later the hatch closed and he was at the controls.

"_Can you hear me?"_ he asked Ian over his radio. Since it was one of the walkie talkie types, Sander was able to hear him as well.

Ian keyed the mic.

"I hear you, Jack. Ready?"

"_Roger."_

The Gateship powered up and floated to the center of the bay, while Sander and Ian moved out of the way. A minute later it began to lower, and Sander informed Ian that the stargate was activated and that they'd received word from the SGC that the iris was closed.

"Jack, you're cleared to go," Ian told him on the radio.

"_Roger. Gateship One is going… now."_

Ian couldn't see it, but he knew from Sander's expression that Jack was through the gate. McKay had been listening in on the radio as well, and moved his ship to the center of the bay, now, turning it so he could see Ian and Sander.

"_Did he make it?"_ they heard him asking – and could see his lips moving slightly out of sync with the question.

"His people say he is there," Sander replied after a slight pause. The Ancient was in communication with those in their control room, so he could answer the question easier than if Ian had gone and asked in person.

"You ready, Rodney?" Ian asked.

The astrophysicist gave him a thumbs up rather than a verbal reply, and Ian turned to Sander, offering him his hand as well.

"Thanks for all the help."

The Ancient nodded, and when he took his hand, Ian felt all his aches and pains vanish immediately. Sander had taken care of them with more ease than Ian ever would be have been able to. He was still tired, but it wasn't as bad as being tired _and_ hurting.

"It is we who owe you, Ian Brooks. You _and_ your wife – and the other scientists who developed the Wraith Killing disease."

"I'll tell her you send your thanks," Ian said, turning and watching as Rodney lowered his Gateship into the room below them in anticipation of his departure.

"Your people have sent word that the way is cleared for Doctor McKay," Sander told him, apparently changing the subject.

Ian nodded and keyed his mic again.

"Rodney, you're cleared to go."

"_What? Already? Are you sure?"_

It was obvious McKay had expected to have to wait the full ten minutes.

"Sander says they've cleared you on the other end. Get going."

"_Roger."_

Without any more discussion, McKay sent the Gateship through the stargate. After only a little longer than a regular trip through, he found himself coming to a gentle – but swift – stop in the gate room of the SGC, hovering right at eye level with their control room. Sam Carter and Chelani were watching him, and he couldn't resist the urge to wave.

"Welcome back, Rodney," Sam told him over the radio. "Go ahead and head up. There'll be some ground crew waiting to show you were to park."

McKay nodded, and turned the Gateship around, facing it back toward the gate and bringing it level with the hole in the ceiling. It wasn't hard; the ship did almost all of it with just some mental nudging from him. He started to ascend, and saw the stargate disengage unexpectedly.

_"What the hell?"_


	34. Chapter 34

Sam Carter frowned, looking down at her console.

"The gate shut down, Rodney…"

_"I can see that."_ McKay's Gateship hesitated at his mental command and he looked at the stargate just below him. _"The question is why. Did they send you any warning that something was happening?"_

She shook her head, even though he was facing the wrong direction to see it.

"No. It just disengaged right after your arrival."

_"What's going on, kids?"_ Jack's voice came over the radio.

_"The Ancients shut down the gate_," McKay told him.

_"Why would they do that?"_

_"Good question,"_ Rodney replied. _"We need to-"_

_"Did Ian come through?"_

"No." This was Sam again, and now there was a bit more concern in her voice. "But there's no indication that he even entered the event horizon, so we can't assume he-"

_"We need to get back there,"_ Rodney interrupted. _"Colonel, bring the ZedPMs to the control room so we can get-"_

"McKay, you need to get your ship out of the way in case he emerges," Sam told him, looking over at Chelani to see if the Ancient had anything to add to the conversation. He shook his head, however. "Park it and come give us a hand."

There was a hesitation. Rodney had had every intention of simply waiting for O'Neill to get the ZPM to the control room, Chelani to hook it up and then redial Atlantis and go back and see what was going on with Ian. The problem with that was that he'd never be able to sit still that long, and he wouldn't be able to rely on Chelani to do the ZPM connection properly – even though he trusted him. He just didn't trust anyone to do something so important. Besides, Chelani didn't deal with Ancient technology every day and Rodney did. The last thing they needed was for something to go wrong.

Something besides whatever already had, that is.

_"I'll be right there."_

With another mental command and a sure hand on the controls, McKay sent the Gateship up once more.

OOOOOOOOOO

The Gateship was just starting its descent into the embarkation room when the gate itself suddenly and without warning shut down. Ian Brooks frowned and checked his readings to make sure it wasn't something he'd done – but he knew that it wasn't.

_"Ian Brooks, we have a problem."_

The voice was Nijay's, and now Ian scowled, wondering if the Ancients who had sounded too good to be true really were. Had they decided that they weren't going to let them have everything they'd asked for? If that was really the case they were too late, because Jack and Rodney had already gone through – along with the ZPMs – so the Earth already had way more than they'd planned on getting when the three of them had left Stargate Command to come here.

"What's going on, Nijay?" He asked, keeping his voice carefully neutral. When he'd been younger, he wouldn't have hidden his sudden suspicion, but he was older and smarter, now.

"_The wormhole destabilized, Colonel Brooks,"_ came the answer.

He turned the ship to look over at ops, and saw that the Ancients there were all looking at the controls in front of them, or at him. Sander came hurrying in from the corridor that led to the Gateship bay, and he, too, looked down at the controls.

"What happened?" Ian asked, deciding that they didn't really look like they wanted to take him hostage.

Which was a good thing, because he didn't feel like _being_ one just then.

Sander looked up.

"_The fail safes activated,"_ he told him over the radio. "_Something must have triggered them. We're searching for the cause now."_

"How long?"

Meaning how long was it going to take and should he go back to the Gateship bay. Luckily Sander understood the question.

_"The logs will-"_

He was interrupted when Nijay looked up from the panel she'd been studying.

_"There was a power surge in the wormhole,"_ she said, activating the communications device so she could tell Ian and Sander at the same time. _"Solar flare. The wormhole shut down in time to keep you from going through and getting caught in the gravitational flux."_

"Did Rodney make it through to Earth?"

_"We're certain he did."_

"But no way of knowing until we dial them back?"

_"Right."_

"How long?"

_"A few minutes. Certainly no longer than that. Instances of solar flares are not uncommon, but instances where they last longer than a minute or two are very rare. It will take the device a moment to configure itself and to make all of the necessary system checks and then it will allow gate travel once more."_

_"Stay where you are, Ian Brooks_," Sander told him, looking up to give him what was supposed to be a reassuring smile. "_We'll get you home as soon as we can."_

Like he had any _choice_? Ian simply nodded, and leaned back in his seat, hoping that Rodney really had made it through.

OOOOOOOOOOO

McKay met up with O'Neill on the surface. The Colonel handed one of the ZPM cases over to him to carry, and they headed away from the auxiliary parking area with a Marine escort.

"Think they screwed us over?" Jack asked McKay – proving that his opinion of this McKay was very different than his opinion of the one in this reality.

Rodney shrugged.

"If they did, then they're out of their minds. We got two ZedPMs from them and a couple of Gateships."

"They got Ian."

McKay shook his head.

"There's no way they'd be able to keep him unless they drugged him and tied him up constantly. He's just as smart as they are – at least, he _probably_ is. And he's incredibly hard to live with if he doesn't like you. He'd probably annoy them so much they'd eventually be begging us to come and take him back."

"So what do _you_ think happened?"

McKay had been thinking about it the entire time he'd been parking the Gateship.

"There are two obvious scenarios. One is that they took him – which I doubt happened – and the other is that something happened to shut down the gate. Either they shut it down manually because they forgot to ask him something – or forgot to tell him something – which I really doubt happened. Or something caused the gate to shut down manually."

"Something like a solar flare?" Jack asked as they entered the mountain.

McKay gave him a surprised look. He hadn't really thought O'Neill was all that bright. Not that he didn't like him...

"Yes." He shrugged. "I doubt there's any chance there was a flare, however. The things aren't that rare, but the odds of having so many in such a short period of time aren't that great."

"So what do you think it was?"

"I don't know."

There wasn't much to say after that. At just short of a run they headed back to the control room of stargate command, and by the time they got there McKay was too out of breath to ask what they'd discovered from their logs.

Luckily, Sam didn't need the question verbalized.

"It was a solar flare," she told them.

Jack looked over at McKay.

"_Hah_. Told you."

Rodney frowned.

"What? Are you _sure_?"

Sam nodded.

"That's what the logs indicate. Atlantis didn't have time to warn us before the gate shut down, but we don't have any indication that Ian was heading through the wormhole when it hit. Chances are he's still on the other side."

"Well, when's he coming back then?" Jack asked.

"They'd have to wait until the system itself allows another wormhole to be established," Rodney told them, feeling almost giddy with relief. Or maybe it was the fact that he hadn't eaten in so long?

"We feel that-"

There was a sudden alarm and the stargate in front of them started to activate.

"Incoming wormhole!" the sergeant sitting beside Sam announced into a microphone.

"We're standing right _here_," Rodney snapped, annoyed at having someone shout in his ear. He looked down at the embarkation room, however, hopefully. "Is it them?"

Security teams were forming, but Sam nodded.

"We're getting a signal."

_"Stargate Command, this is Colonel Ian Brooks."_

Jack keyed his radio.

"We were getting a little worried there, Colonel."

_"Sorry Jack,"_ came the unrepentant reply. "_Did Rodney make it through?"_

McKay keyed his own mic this time.

"Nice of you to ask, Brooks. I'm here."

He couldn't help the smile glued to his face.

_"Tell me you're not in my way…?"_

"We're parked. Get over here, will you? _I'm hungry_."

The iris opened, and Sam keyed her radio.

"You're cleared to return, Colonel Brooks," she said, smiling at Daniel and Teal'c, who had joined them in the control room.

_"Roger."_

The radio went dead, and Jack sighed, reaching over and setting down the case that held the ZPM he'd been carrying. As he did so a Gateship materialized through the wormhole and hovered in front of them. Behind it the gate shut down and Ian Brooks could be seen looking through the front view screen at them.

"Welcome back, Colonel," Sam said, breaking in before Ian could say anything. "We've cleared a parking spot for you up above."

Ian nodded.

_"Thanks."_

He turned the ship and it started its ascent. McKay looked over at Chelani.

"Are we ready to leave?"

The Ancient nodded.

"Yes."

"Good."

"Anxious to leave so soon, McKay?" Sam asked, relaxing finally now that all of them were back on the right side of the gate.

"You have no idea…"


	35. Chapter 35

"Tell me you were at _least_ going to send a rescue team after me…?"

Rodney rolled his eyes, turning his head to look at Ian, who was being checked over by Janet Fraiser while one of her medics had his hands under Rodney's jaw, feeling for swelling or whatever it was they checked when they ran their hands along the neck like that. McKay had never bothered to ask.

"No. I figured that after risking my life tracking you down in an alternate reality I'd leave you to rot the last minute on a different Atlantis and return home and tell Cassie I couldn't be bothered with one more trip through the gate to come see what happened to you."

Ian cast a sidelong glance at Janet, looking for a reaction to Cassie's name, but couldn't help going for the dig when she didn't say anything right away.

"Or… you figured _I'd_ have a better chance of calculating the return to Atlantis…?"

"Oh, please… Like I need _your_ help for that? No. If I'm being attacked by some terrible monster – or a life-sucking Wraith or something equally awful – I'll call _you_. When I need to solve a simple equation or-"

"Kids…" Jack had heard enough bickering – even though he could easily see past it and was impressed that _this_ McKay was actually someone who really was capable of worrying about someone other than himself. "If you keep arguing I'm going to send you to your rooms."

Sam smiled, rubbing Jaffer's shoulder since the lab was sitting beside the chair she was sitting in.

"They look like they could use a _nap_," she pointed out.

Ian, Rodney and Jack all looked beat, but Ian and Rodney especially. Ian most likely because he'd been up for days it seemed, and Rodney, who was almost certainly beginning to feel the effects of being in a reality that already held a copy of himself. He probably just didn't realize it yet.

"No." McKay shook his head. "We need to get going. I've been here too long already, and I'm already beginning to feel uncomfortable."

Proving he was more perceptive than Sam gave him credit for. Of course, she wasn't used to this version of Rodney McKay, so it was hard to give him any kind of credit for being more than an ass.

"You should _eat_ something, at least…" Janet Fraiser said, shining a light into Ian's eyes.

Again Rodney shook his head.

"The last thing we need is for Ian to eat anything before getting into the Gateship," he told them.

Janet looked over at him, and then back to Ian.

"You get sick?"

Before Ian could answer, Jack spoke up.

"You should have seen him when they were giving me the crash course in flying the Gateship…" he said. "I didn't think anyone could look that pale and still be alive."

"Since you _crashed_ the first Gateship I'd say I had good reason to be concerned," Ian pointed out, causing Jack to scowl.

"I thought we agreed not to mention that…."

Sam gave them an incredulous look.

"You _crashed_ the-"

"Not so much crashed as simply…" Jack trailed off, unable to find a delicate way to describe it.

"As simply _slamming it into one of the walls of Atlantis, causing God only knows how much damage and destroying the Gateship in the process_," McKay finished – earning another scowl.

Before he could say anything, though, Hammond walked into the infirmary with Daniel and Teal'c beside him.

"How are they, Doctor?" he asked.

Janet stepped back from the table Ian was on and handed him his shirt.

"They're cleared, sir. Both of them are fine."

"That's good to hear." Hammond looked over at Ian. "Chelani tells me that he's ready to begin the dialing sequence, Colonel."

"Thank you, General."

The medic had handed Rodney his shirt as well, and he put it on quickly.

"I'll go make sure of his calculations and you can bring the Gateship into the embarkation room and pick us up there," he told Ian.

Hammond nodded his agreement.

"I've put a hold on all offworld teams to clear up the space needed for the Gateship in the gate room."

"Want to come help, Sam?" Rodney asked.

She smiled, not annoyed like she might have been when they'd first arrived.

"I think you can handle it. I'll walk with Ian to the Gateship."

She hadn't had a chance to get a good look at them, and while she knew they were going to keep two of them, this would be her first chance to get inside one.

"I'll join you," Jack told her. He looked at Teal'c and Daniel. "Go make sure McKay doesn't screw up and end up dialing them right back here, will you?"

Rodney rolled his eyes, but didn't comment like he normally would have. There was a time for allowing people to annoy him and then there was a time for going home – and McKay _really_ wanted to go home.

"Don't take long," he told Ian, already turning for the door.

"We'll see you in a few minutes," Daniel told them as he moved to follow. Hammond, Teal'c and Jack (the dog) all headed for the door as well.

Ian hopped off the bed he'd been sitting on and put his shirt on.

"Thanks, Janet."

The head of medicine at SGC smiled.

"From what I understand, you're my son in law in your reality. It's the least I can do, Colonel."

He couldn't hide his surprise, and turned to Sam.

"How did-"

"_Chelani_ told us," Sam explained. "He also unlocked your laptop and showed us pictures of your boys."

Janet smiled.

"They're adorable, Ian."

"Did you see the one with me and them?" Jack asked, curiously. "They're hanging upside-"

"We saw it," Sam interrupted, smiling as well. "They're all on his laptop."

Ian nodded.

"As someone told me once… I'm one of _those_ dads."

"It's too bad you're not alive in this reality," Janet told him. "I really would have liked to meet those little boys some day."

"I'll give them a hug for you when I get home," Ian promised her.

Surprising them all, Janet stepped up and gave him a quick hug.

"You do that, Colonel. And have a safe trip."


	36. Chapter 36

They carried three large packs to the Gateship with them. Nothing too exciting, simply a lot of emergency equipment that the SGC could spare and what might come in handy on the off chance – and very unlikely possibility – that Rodney and Chelani somehow misdialed and they ended up somewhere else.

"Is there anything else we can do to help you?" Sam asked as they approached the Gateship that Ian and the others were going to take home with them. This one was in sight, but under a makeshift hangar of tarps and netting. The other two were cloaked nearby, but not close enough that any of them had to worry about running into it.

Ian shook his head, the rear hatch of the Gateship opening so they could climb aboard.

"We're set, I think…" He looked at the two of them, his expression unreadable. "I wish there was more _I_ could do…"

Jack snorted, dropping the pack he'd been carrying onto the deck of the Gateship.

"Like what? You've already got us two new space ships and those ZPM things."

"Not to mention introducing us to _actual_ Ancients," Sam added.

Ian nodded.

"Hopefully they'll help you with the Goa'uld. Anubis is going to be a problem, make sure you get the chair device in Antarctica up and running as soon as possible. It's your best bet against him."

Sam nodded.

"We'll be ready for him."

"Anything else?" Jack asked with a slight smile, and Ian knew he sounded like a parent getting ready to leave the children alone for the first time.

He couldn't help it, though.

He nodded.

"Make sure you keep an eye on Shawn – especially once he goes into the Air Force academy. Senator Kinsey is a dangerous man, and he'll be even more dangerous if he finds out about the relationship between you and Shawn. Watch him – and an admiral named Leaf, too, while you're at it. And the Asgard are going to want help with their stupid genetic problem, and Shawn's the answer. Dotty knows what to do, but she might need help from the Ancients and it _wouldn't_ be a bad idea to let her know about them, because that'll probably come in handy to her as well."

"We'll take care of it," Jack promised. "Don't worry about us, Ian. We're going to be fine."

He nodded again.

"I know. I just want to make sure you guys have everything you need, you know?"

Sam smiled.

"We know."

Ian looked over at Jack.

"You might contact my dad, Jack. Don't mention _me_, of course, but he's an asset that you guys could really use here."

"You think so?"

"He's got a ton of political connections and he's retired military – not to mention he's a friend of yours, so he's already on the right side of things. You guys can use him."

"I haven't talked to him in years, though."

"Take Jacob Carter with you," Ian suggested. "He was there for my funeral, after all. He'll know the best way to approach him."

"It's worth considering," Sam replied, looking over at Jack.

"The guy's your VP in my reality," Ian told him. "You'll get along fine."

Jack nodded.

"I'll talk to Jacob about it next time I see him."

"Good."

He couldn't think of anything else he needed to tell them, so he headed for the front of the Gateship, followed closely by Sam, who had every intention of claiming the copilot seat so she could see what was going on.

"You should sit in the back, Sam," Jack told her. "There are actually straps back here you can use for seatbelts."

Ian scowled, looking over at Jack who had a gleam of amusement in his brown eyes that Ian had seen a million times.

"I haven't crashed a Gateship. _Ever_. How many have you crashed? Oh, yeah, that's right – one. Out of _three_ flights."

Sam snorted in amusement as Jack sat down in the seat behind her.

"You should have brought us more ships…"

Now Ian smiled as well and keyed his radio.

"Control, this is Colonel Brooks. Is the embarkation room cleared out?"

It was Hammond's voice that came over the radio a moment later.

"_Affirmative, Colonel Brooks. You are cleared to enter the embarkation room."_

"Roger."

While Ian wasn't the happiest flyer in the world, he was very good at flying the Gateships. The craft responded immediately to him and a moment later they were cloaked and airborne.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Okay, Ian's in the air. Are we set here?"

Rodney looked over at Chelani, who had been seated in the chair in front of the dialing computer, but had relinquished that spot to McKay a few minutes before. The Ancient nodded.

"The computer is ready. We just need to load the same program into the Gateship."

Daniel had been watching from a few steps behind them.

"We're dialing from here, though, right?"

"_Sam_ will, yes." Like McKay would trust _Daniel_ to get him home? He didn't know Jackson all that well, but he knew the guy wasn't the super genius compared to himself and Sam.

"Then why do you need to put the program into the-"

"Because we need to make sure that even if the Gateship takes over the dialing program automatically – which they've done before – it'll be the same destination at the exact right moment."

"If there's that much danger, then why don't you just leave the Gateship here and go on foot?"

"Because there isn't that much danger. The Gateships are _designed_ for dialing – it's what they do. You'll come to appreciate it later on, believe me. We're just creating a failsafe, that's all."

"Just in case," Chelani added.

"Atlantis is your destination?" Teal'c asked.

Chelani nodded.

"It is the destination we have programmed, but if all goes well we will end up back in the SGC instead of Atlantis."

Daniel's forehead creased in confusion.

"How do you figure that?"

"Because this is where the artificial gravitational field we're creating should bring us – in the right time and reality, though."

"But how-"

"Just _trust me_. That's how it works."

Before Daniel could say anything, one of the techs standing close to the blast windows looked up.

"Here they come."

Sure enough, the Gateship landed a moment later in the very center of the embarkation room. There wasn't a lot of space for anything else in there – which was the whole point of clearing the area out – but the rear hatch opened without cracking the concrete wall behind the Gateship.

Rodney grabbed up his laptop – _and_ Ian's – and the group headed down to meet the others.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Are we ready?" Ian asked as soon as he left the Gateship and saw McKay standing there.

Rodney nodded.

"Everything's set." He looked at Carter. "The dialing sequence is locked in, you'll just have to initiate it."

Sam nodded.

"I'll take care of it."

Hammond stepped forward as Chelani and Rodney traded places with Sam and Jack.

"Do you need anything else, Colonel?"

Ian looked back at Rodney and Chelani – who both shook their heads.

"We're set, Sir. Thanks for everything."

Hammond smiled and offered Ian his hand.

"Good luck, Ian."

Ian smiled and shook hands.

"Thank you."

Rodney cleared his throat, getting Ian's attention, and when Brooks looked back at him, he handed the New Yorker a data device. Ian smiled and handed the device over to Sam, who took it, confused.

"What's this?"

"I had Rodney copy all the information on my laptop – and his. Between us, we have a lot of data for you to look over."

"Enough to keep you occupied for years," McKay added.

Sam smiled; looking excited and touched at the same time.

"Really?"

"Just in case we missed something," Ian told her. "A lot of it Sander and the other Ancients will probably already discuss with you, but there's stuff on there they might not have a clue about, so it's definitely worth looking at."

"I included some pictures of me," Rodney told her. "Of _us_, I mean."

"You can always edit those out," Ian added, earning himself a glare from McKay that he didn't even see.

Jack chuckled, and shook hands with all three of them.

"You'd better get going."

He didn't like long goodbyes, after all.

"Have a safe trip," Sam added.

Ian nodded, made sure that no one was standing on the ramp and then closed the hatch.

"Let's get going," he told McKay and Chelani. He led them back to the front and sat down in the pilot's seat, and frowned when he saw that something had been left on the center console. The frown faded when he saw what it was, and he smiled.

"What do you have there?" Rodney asked, coming over and sitting down beside him with his laptop already on and ready to interface with the Gateship's computer.

"Jack's idea of a joke…"

He handed the barfbags back to Chelani, and powered the Gateship up again.

"We're ready," Rodney told him only a minute later.

"Good." Ian keyed his radio for the last time. "Stargate Control, this is Gateship One, ready to embark."

Sam replied this time.

"_Roger Gateship One."_

In front of them the Stargate began dialing, and Ian looked over at McKay.

"Hey, thanks for coming for me."

Rodney shrugged, uncomfortable.

"Oh, well… um, you know… I…"

"Just say _you're welcome_."

"You're welcome."

Ian snorted, and the Stargate engaged in front of them.

"Let's go."

A moment later the Gateship vanished through the gate.

Jack looked over at Sam.

"Think they made it?"

She watched as the Stargate deactivated a minute later, and shrugged.

"I think so, but I supposed we'll never really know, will we?"

"Probably not."


	37. Chapter 37

General Alan Hunt rarely served coffee. Not that he didn't drink it – he _did_ and he liked it – but normally his subordinates served him, usually his aide de camp. When he was by himself he served himself, of course, but when he had visitors, he was usually the one being served, not doing the serving. Of course, when the President of the United States came to visit it tended to throw things a little off kilter.

Not that Jack O'Neill was a difficult guest – he wasn't. He and Hunt got along just fine – and Sam was as charming as ever. But Jack was worried, and Sam was distracted, and Hunt had sent his aide de camp off to get any new information they might have received – although he knew that nothing had been heard from Doctor McKay and O'Neill's friend Jim since the two of them had left to find Colonel Brooks two days before.

Which left Hunt to serve his guests their coffee, and do his best to soothe tattered nerves. Something he was pretty good at usually, but knew he wasn't helping much in this instance.

"There's no way they didn't arrive where they meant to go," he told the two of them as he brought them coffee, careful not to trip over Murray, who was sprawled on the floor of his office by his desk. "McKay's a _genius_ – and has a well defined sense of self-preservation. He wouldn't have gone if he wasn't certain of the destination."

"They should have been back by now," Sam said, taking the cup from him with a forced smile of thanks. "Something must have happened…"

"We're not going after them," Jack told her. The way he said it made Hunt certain that they'd had the conversation several times in the last day or so. Sam probably wanted to lead the next group herself – it wouldn't have surprised him – and Jack would have vetoed the idea immediately. Of course, Sam was probably the most brilliant person on the planet with McKay and Ian out of the picture, so he could understand her desire to go.

But he could understand Jack's reasoning as well. The last thing they needed was to lose another group of people.

She tossed her husband an annoyed look.

"It wouldn't be _that_ hard to follow them. The dialing computer in the control room would be able to tell me where they-"

"Sam." Jack's interruption was gentle, but there was also a note of command that he probably didn't even realize he was adding. "We can't follow them. They know what they're doing and we have to trust them to-"

An alarm suddenly blared through the office – and the entire complex.

_"Incoming wormhole! General Hunt to the control room. Repeat, unscheduled activation! General Hunt, please report to the control room…"_

Since Hunt was already on his feet, he was at the door before the intercom went silent. Jack and Sam were only a step behind him and right behind them scrambled one very confused young lab, who absolutely refused to let his Jack out of his sight.

OOOOOOOO

The control room was a whirlwind of activity, the gate room even more so.

"Shield up," Hunt ordered even as he entered the room.

"We can't get the shield to activate, sir," the technician monitoring the computer reported.

Sam tapped him on the shoulder and he got up to make room for her. She frowned immediately.

"The system is offline."

"The _gate's_ working," Jack pointed out. In fact, it had already locked several chevrons – almost completing a dialing.

"The gate is a separate system from the shield," she told him without looking up. "Ian and Shawn did that to keep from accidentally-"

"Look alive down there," Hunt interrupted, speaking into a microphone to his security teams who were all gathering, bristling with weaponry. There was a white line on the concrete floor of the embarkation room, drawn there to give them security forces a reminder of where the shield ended and exactly how much room the Gateships needed. Both were necessary, since the last thing anyone wanted was for something odd to happen and to have the shield activate for some reason with someone straddling that line.

Because of that, it was automatic for the security forces to line up behind that line – which was also designed to allow for a partial crossfire in the event of a shield failure with unfriendlies incoming.

"Any signal?" Jack asked, looking over Sam's shoulder.

She shook her head without looking up, her fingers flying over the keys.

"I can't override whatever is happening. They're jamming the frequency of the shield."

The technician shook his head.

"They can't. It's a scrambled-"

Suddenly the gate flared and activated, drawing everyone's attention. Weapons came up, and the Secret Service, who had stayed out of the way up until then, were crowding very close to Jack and Sam.

"What-"

Before Hunt could finish his question, a Gateship suddenly emerged from the gate, startling most of the security team and causing a couple of them to jump back almost instinctively as it came to a sudden – and very abrupt – stop in the gate room.

"It's them!"

From the angle they had, there was no way they could miss the fact that it was Rodney and Ian in the front seats of the small space ship. Especially when Ian turned his head from his console to look their direction.

"_Stargate command, this is Colonel Ian Brooks…"_ the gate shut down behind them as the small group in the control room let out a very audible sigh of relief. _"Requesting a parking assignment topside."_

Jack took the com before Hunt could reply.

"You can park that thing right there, Colonel. We'll be right there."

With that, he dropped the microphone and headed for the door, with Sam and the others close behind. By the time they reached the embarkation room the Gateship was powered down and the security teams were standing down. The back hatch opened, and Murray gave a happy bark as he recognized the people coming down the ramp.

"Ian!"

Dropping all the decorum that came with the title of First Lady, Sam rushed up to him and gave him hug, which he returned more than willingly. She staggered a little when he leaned against her, making her realize that he wasn't exactly at one hundred percent, but when she pulled away and automatically started looking for blood stains and broken bones, she couldn't find anything. He just looked tired.

"Hey, Sam."

"Where the hell have you been?" Jack asked, walking over to greet him as well.

Ian smiled.

"It's a long story, Jack. What are _you_ doing here?"

"You're supposed to be bringing me a report, Colonel," Jack reminded him.

Oh yeah.

"We found him exactly where we calculated he'd be," Rodney said, smugly. "But we had a bit of a time getting out of there."

"Where did you get the Gateship?" Sam asked, curiously.

"Atlantis?" Jack guessed.

McKay and Ian both nodded.

"Long story, though."

"But interesting," Rodney told them. "The people in-"

"Ian, you need to call Cassie," Hunt interrupted. "She's been calling to check on our progress every four hours."

"And have Janet give you a quick check up," Sam added. "_All_ of you."

They'd just returned from God only knew where, after all, and procedures were there for a reason.

McKay frowned, more excited about telling the story of the Ancients who hadn't abandoned Atlantis than getting a physical.

"But it's a _really_ interesting story," he told her.

"And it'll wait a few more minutes," Jack said, backing Sam automatically.

McKay sighed.

"Fine."


	38. Chapter 38

Rodney and Jim went directly to the infirmary for a check up. Ian hesitated at the embarkation room with Jack and Sam – and Hunt.

"Do you have any teams due back?" Ian asked Hunt, looking over his shoulder at the Gateship. There was room for people to come down the ramp if needed, but not much more than that, and if Hunt had any large groups of people out, there could be a problem if they needed to return in a hurry.

The general shook his head.

"Not for a while." He turned and looked up at the control room – and the technician at the dialing computer. "Dial Atlantis, please."

Ian separated from the others and headed for the control room. This was definitely a call he needed to make.

OOOOOOOOOOO

River Hayden was in the control center when alarms suddenly blared from all directions and the shield that protected the city from unauthorized access came up automatically. He looked over at the Airman who was manning operations at the moment, and the man looked down at his screen immediately, typing for a moment before looking up.

"We're receiving an audio signal from Earth," he reported.

Hayden nodded, wondering if he should call in Cassie, just in case it was about Ian. He didn't like the thought of getting her hopes up for what could just be a weather report or something equally mundane, however, so decided to wait and see what it was.

"Let's hear it."

"_Atlantis, this is Stargate Command,"_ the voice said. _"Stand by for Colonel Brooks."_

River grinned, slapping the Airman on the shoulder.

"Call Dr. Brooks up here, will you?"

"Yes, sir."

The Airman smiled, too, just as relieved, and tapped his com unit, while River reached over his shoulder and tapped the city's communications panel.

"Stargate Command, this is Atlantis. What's Colonel Brooks' condition?"

"_I'm tired and hungry,"_ came the reply – and there was no denying that New York drawl, which made River smile even broader. _"Where's Cassandra?"_

"She's on her way," River reported. "Are you coming home?"

"_Not yet_." And now he could hear that Ian was annoyed as well as tired. "_It won't be long, though."_

A motion at one of the entrances to the control center drew Hayden's attention and he smiled a greeting to Cassie, who was slightly out of breath from sprinting up.

"Hold on a second, Ian. Cassie's here."

She smiled, relieved, and walked over to the computer.

OOOOOOOOO

Jack and Sam had joined Chelani and McKay in the infirmary, leaving Ian to the relative privacy of the control room to make his call to Cassie. McKay was bursting to tell them about how he – with a little help from Chelani – had managed to find Ian on the very first try. He had just finished explaining how they'd been received by the people in the alternate reality when Ian walked in, looking a little less tense and gracing them all with a slight smile.

"How's Cass?" Jack asked.

"Relieved," came the answer, as Janet joined them in the main room and waved Ian over to the examination table beside Rodney's. "She sounded tired, though, so let's make this as quick as possible, please."

It was a pretty well calculated comment, since Janet would be concerned about Cassie, too, and might actually get him out of there within a half hour or so.

"We can debrief here if you want," Jack told him as Hunt came over as well.

"That's fine."

While the medical staff checked him, Rodney and Chelani out for any kind of anomaly that might prove dangerous to those on Earth – and Atlantis – the three of them (mostly McKay) filled them in on the events of the past few days. The whole alternate reality thing was interesting, but what interested Jack the most was the same thing that had taken _Ian_ by surprise as well.

The Ancients that hadn't abandoned Atlantis.

"You're _sure_ they were Ancients?" Jack asked.

Ian nodded.

"I recognized more than one of them."

"And you told them about the Wraith virus?"

"Yeah."

"Because…?"

"The sooner they kill the Wraith, the better, as far as I'm concerned," Ian replied.

McKay nodded his agreement with that statement. Of course, he and Ian lived in Atlantis, and were constantly under the threat of the Wraith – unlike Earth, since the Wraith had never managed to make it that far. Not yet, anyway.

"Not to mention, they'll be able to help those guys with their Goa'uld problem," Rodney added. "I wish we had them here."

"Of course, we'd never have been able to colonize Atlantis if they were here," Ian pointed out. "But they _will_ make a huge difference there, I think."

"If they really are who you think they are."

Jack was automatically suspicious, but that was the way he was. If something seemed too good to be true, it almost certainly was.

"They're legit, Jack," Ian told him, confidently.

"If they had designs on Earth or some other idea, they never would have given us the ZedPMs," McKay added.

"_Or_ the Gateships," Chelani said, unable to keep from joining the conversation.

"For that matter, they would have recognized Ian as an informational goldmine and tried harder to keep him," McKay said.

"They probably realized they'd never been able to afford to feed him," Janet put in, giving her son in law an affectionate smile.

Ian grinned, and Sam looked over at McKay.

"So you guys told them everything?"

Rodney nodded.

"We even made a copy of the data on our laptops for the Sam there to have."

"And you don't think that was a little dangerous?"

Ian shook his head, but it was Rodney who spoke.

"Would you have done differently?" he asked. "Knowing that you could have given them even a little extra help in the fight against the Goa'uld, or the Wraith – or one of the other crazy out for power races out there that we've run into in the last twenty years or so – would you have left without giving them every tool you could? Every weapon?"

Ian knew from her expression that she wanted to say yes, but he also knew that she would have been lying.

"We did what we thought was right," he said, shrugging. "I'd do it the same way again if we had to do it over again."

Jack nodded, looking thoughtful but not annoyed.

"That's all we need for now, Ian," he said. "You can write me a report on it when you get a chance, but for now, you need to get home – and so do we."

Ian couldn't agree more. He looked over at Janet, who nodded as well.

"We're done here. Get something to eat when you get home, and then get some sleep."

"I will."

"You, too, McKay," Janet added, giving Rodney a stern look.

McKay snorted.

"Are you _kidding_? When I get home I'm going to find the biggest sandwich – or maybe a _roast_ or something and then I'm going to sleep for a week."


	39. Chapter 39

_"Daddy!"_

Ian had barely materialized through the gate and had just enough chance to see that there was a fair-sized crowd of people waiting for him and McKay before he was rushed by the two people who were most excited to see him. Carter and Michael ran up, and Ian only had time to hand his bag over to McKay before he had his hands full of children.

He didn't mind though. With a grin and a happiness that he never would have thought himself capable of finding when he was younger, he held his boys tightly to his chest, cuddling them both as they squeezed him as tightly as they could.

Cassandra stepped forward, her eyes on Ian for only a moment before deciding that her own greeting could wait until their sons had had a chance to say hello. Instead, she turned to Rodney, who looked a bit tired, but healthy and whole. He grinned, and didn't look so tired, then.

"Look who I found," he told her, smugly.

She wrapped her arms around him, giving him a hug and kissed his cheek – which _really_ needed a shave.

"Thank you, Rodney."

He snorted, both amused and a little embarrassed at the display of affection – and the fact that he had to admit he really was happy she was happy. He hugged her tightly for just a moment, knowing that in her relief she probably needed that, and then pulled away and turned to Ian and the boys.

"Look who else is back!" he told them, putting his arms out to them.

The boys cheered and squirmed out of Ian's arms, more than willing to switch their attention from their father to McKay.

_"Rodney!"_

Carter was closest and reached him first, but Michael was right behind him, and suddenly it was McKay who had his arms filled with children while Cassie went over and looked Ian over critically for just a moment. He looked tired – more than Rodney, even – but his eyes were clear and there was no sign of injury or pain in his expression or movements.

"Hey, baby…" his voice was soft enough that she was the only one to hear him, but that was on purpose she knew. She smiled and put her arms around him, feeling his own arms coming around her at the same time.

"Thank God you're okay…"

He chuckled and hugged her tightly, resting his head on her shoulder and putting his cheek against her neck.

"I was with friends the entire time, Cassandra," he murmured. "They just didn't know it at first."

"You really _were_ in another reality?" she asked, not pulling away. "Rodney was right?"

"Of course he was," he told her. "Just don't tell him I said that."

She smiled, and pulled away.

"What was it like?"

"A lot like this one was," he said.

"Except he was _dead_ there," McKay said, proving he was still listening in, even though Carter had climbed up onto his back and was nearly choking him to keep from falling off.

"McKay…"

Ian's warning glare included a glance towards his sons, and Rodney realized that that probably hadn't been the best thing to say in front of the boys. He looked abashed, and tried to think of some way to make it sound less terrible than it probably had.

"Oh… sorry about that…" Then his eyes fell on his pack and he smiled. "I brought presents."

The boys had been curious about the sudden tenseness in their father's expression, but Rodney said the magic word, and suddenly he had their undivided attention.

"Presents?!"

"Of course!"

He bent over, flipping Carter over his shoulder with the motion. The boy held on just long enough to make sure he was going to land on his feet and then let go, looking excitedly at the pack.

"What'd ya get us??"

Michael was right beside him, of course, and Ian stepped away from them to turn to River, who had been standing beside Cassandra when they'd arrived. The Californian smiled, offering his friend his hand.

"Welcome back."

"Thanks. Did I miss anything?"

"Cassie proposed to me."

Cassandra laughed, and hit him on the shoulder.

"That's not true."

Ian grinned, knowing that River had almost certainly been the one to stand beside Cassandra while she was waiting for word about him, and he was fairly certain his friend had done everything he could to keep her from worrying any more than necessary.

"You had your chance, fly-boy. She's-"

"A _football!"_

Michael held up the football at the same moment that his brother pulled out a large plastic bag. He looked into it, curiously, and his dark eyes lit up when he looked over at his father.

_"Legos!"_

Ian smiled at his sons.

"Those are from Grandma, so make sure you write her thank you letters…"

Janet always had something for him to bring back to the boys, after all. Of course, Rodney had also considered something else, something that the boys would appreciate almost as much as he did. He handed over yet another bag, which he'd pulled out of the pack Ian had been carrying. Carter took it from him and looked inside, and then screeched, happily.

_"A&W!"_

Michael screamed, too, and both boys ran off with the bag, clearly ready to enjoy their burgers and fries, their parents and every other adult forgotten for the moment.

Cassie shook her head, not at all hurt at being trumped by a couple of hamburgers and fries. It just gave her another chance to hug him – which she did.

"Did you bring me a burger?" River asked.

"Rodney ate it," Ian told him.

Hayden scowled, looking over at McKay, who gave him an injured look.

"I didn't know it was for _you_ until after I'd already-"

"You suck, McKay…"

Cassie laughed, and turned to Ian once more.

"When do we hear about what happened? Or is it _classified_?"

He shook his head, looking at the others in the gate room. He knew they'd want to know where he'd been – and the good thing was, it wasn't really much of a secret, because none of it had happened in their own reality. He could tell them everything.

"Come on, let's go someplace with chairs."

He turned and headed to the stairs, with Cassie's hand firmly in his own, and was immediately followed by everyone who wasn't on duty and could get away to hear what was undoubtedly going to be a very interesting story.


	40. Epilogue

_**Epilogue **_

OOOOOOOOOO

Ian woke up from his light doze when Cassie joined him in bed. Still sleepy, he moved automatically to give her room and pulled her against him once she was settled.

"Boys are asleep?" he asked, his eyes still closed and more than ready to go back to sleep once he was sure everything was okay with his world.

She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder instead of the pillow.

"_Someone's_ going to have to fish that football out of the ocean tomorrow."

Ian smiled; it hadn't taken long for the twins to lose the football off one of the many balconies of Atlantis. They'd been very vocal in their grief but Cassie had warned them several times about playing where they'd been and they'd ignored her warnings and had lost the ball because of it. Which meant that they didn't get it back until the next day.

"If they can find it," Ian said. "Big ocean, little football."

"Radek put a transmitter in it before the boys started playing with it," Cassie told him.

What was the point of having technology coming out of their ears if they didn't use it? And Radek was very good at looking ahead and fixing certain problems before they actually came up.

"River can find it tomorrow, then," Ian mumbled, sleepily. "We'll make it a training exercise."

She chuckled, but then was quiet for a moment. Quiet enough that Ian actually woke up a little more and looked over at her.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, her expression one he couldn't quite read – and it had nothing to do with the fact that the room was dimly lit.

"I talked to Carson yesterday…"

He frowned.

"Problem with the Wraith virus?"

If there was a problem with it then he'd given the Ancients in the other reality a possibly faulty-

"No, it looks fine. It's working as well as we thought it would…"

"Then-"

"I had him give me a physical," she interrupted. "I wasn't sure, but-"

Worried about her, he was already putting his hand on her to check for himself, but Cassie smiled and took his hand in hers before he could take a peek.

"I'm pregnant."

His eyes grew wide.

"You're _sure_?"

She smiled.

"I'm a very good doctor, Ian. I recognized the signs immediately. Carson confirmed it."

His own smile echoed hers, and he squeezed her hand before pulling her into a hard hug.

"That's great, baby. When is he due?"

"_She_…" Cassie corrected. Of course, Ian had wanted a girl last time and they'd ended up with two boys, so this time she was going to root for a girl – only _one_ though, hopefully. "_She_ is due in about seven and a half months. Give or take."

He grinned, looking up at the ceiling in their bedroom and trying to imagine life with another baby. Of course, they'd survived twin boys, so only one baby wouldn't be all that bad – especially with all the people around Atlantis who would help them.

"Who all knows?"

"Carson. And he won't tell anyone."

"Hayden's going to go ape-shit."

She smiled, cuddling against him.

"A new God-daughter will do that every time, huh?"

OOOOOOOOO

"So how's it going?"

Sam Carter looked up from her laptop, which was sitting on her worktable in her lab. She smiled at Jaffer, who immediately came over for some attention, and shook her head.

"This stuff is _incredible_, Jack."

He smiled at the amazement in her voice.

"Stuff we can _use_?"

She nodded.

"Eventually, yes. As soon as I can figure it all out."

"And the ZPMs?"

"They're exactly what McKay and Ian said they were. Power sources of so much magnitude that I don't dare try to hook it up to anything to judge just how much power they possess. Not yet, anyway. We might have to wait and see what happens when we put one in the Antarctica weapon and try it out."

"It's not going to _zap_ me or something is it?"

She smiled.

"I wouldn't let you try out something that might zap you, you know that."

"Good, because-"

_"Unscheduled offworld activation! Security teams to the gate room! Repeat, unscheduled offworld activation!"_

They were both on their feet in a hurry, and rushed to the gate room just as Teal'c, Jack (the dog) and Daniel were arriving from another direction.

Security teams were already assembled, guns up and facing the gate – which was still dialing in, and they took the stairs to the control room quickly. Hammond was already there – no big surprise to any of them.

"What do we have?" Jack asked as they entered the room.

The general shook his head, looking at the technician who was sitting at the dialing computer. Just then the gate activated behind the iris and there was almost immediately a beep from the computer. Carter frowned, sitting in the chair beside the dialing computer.

"We're getting a signal, sir." She looked over at the technician, who looked a little surprised. "It's the code that Colonel Brooks gave the Ancients on Atlantis."

"Really?" Daniel couldn't hide the sudden excitement in his voice.

"That didn't take long," Jack commented – with just a hunt of suspicion. Now that Ian Brooks and Rodney McKay and all their knowledge of the technology were gone, who knew what the Ancients might have planned for Earth.

"Audio signal only, sir," Sam told him, not as suspicious as her husband.

"Let's hear it, Major."

_"Earth's Stargate Command, this is Sander, leader of the Atlantis group in the Pegasus galaxy. Can you hear us?"_

Carter nodded to Hammond, telling him that he only needed to speak for the Ancient to hear him, and Hammond cleared his throat.

"We hear you, Sander. This is General Hammond of Stargate Command."

Jack nodded, his own motion telling them that it really was Sander's voice they were hearing.

"_Good! We request permission to send a representative to your planet, General Hammond."_

Jack frowned, looking over at Hammond, who was more diplomatic in his expression – even though the Ancients weren't there to see it.

"A _representative_?" he repeated.

_"Yes. Ian Brooks and I discussed it while waiting for the Stargate to reestablish, and he suggested we send someone to your world to help you incorporate the technology he and my people imparted to yours. I understand that you may need to discuss this with your people, so we will contact you again in a short while to hear your reply."_

The gate shut down and Hammond looked over at the others.

"Thoughts?"

"We _have_ to let them come," Daniel said, almost immediately. "Think of what they could teach us."

Since the general had pretty much expected this from the archeologist, he wasn't surprised. He turned to Teal'c, whose expression was blank – as usual.

"The Ancients are a highly advanced race. To have actual Ancients on Earth could be an invaluable asset to your planet, General."

"And if they're trying to _trick_ us?" Jack asked.

"What do we have that they don't?" Sam countered. "They don't have any _reason_ to trick us."

"Not to mention if they wanted to they could _probably_ get here without asking…" Daniel added.

Hammond looked at Jack, waiting for another argument, but he really didn't have one. He was just being the way he was and he couldn't help it. Instead he shrugged.

"We'll keep a guard on whoever comes – without making it too obvious."

He looked over at Teal'c while he said it and the Jaffa nodded. Between him and O'Neill – and Jack – the dog) and Jaffer, there would be constant surveillance on the Ancient.

"I'll have quarters prepared," Hammond said, reaching for the phone.

OOOOOOOOO

Less than an hour later, they were all standing before the gate – which had just activated. Sam could feel how tense Jack was standing beside her, and it was amazing at the difference between him and Daniel, who was practically wriggling with excitement and eagerness.

Hammond walked over with Teal'c, straightening his uniform automatically.

"Look ready, people…"

The tenseness in the room doubled and then some, but Sam only felt a rush of excitement. She was going to meet an _Ancient_!

A moment later a form emerged from the gate, carrying a small bag. She stopped at the top of the ramp and looked around as the gate shut off behind her, and her gaze rested on Jack.

"Colonel O'Neill."

O'Neill gave a slight smile; surprised that Sander would send his second in command. Clearly he wanted to reassure them that there was nothing more sinister going on than what he'd already told them.

"Nijay," he answered, walking over to the bottom of the ramp.

"It is good to see you again."

The Ancient was looking around with interest, but clearly at ease and not nervous at all about being in the middle of a group of strangers.

"Likewise," Jack replied.

"Please introduce me," she said, walking down the ramp and setting her bag down.

Jaffer came over and sniffed it curiously, and Jack picked it up before he could do more than get a good sniff.

"Rule number one here on Earth," he told her with a wry smile. "Don't leave _anything_ you want in one piece on the ground where Jaffer can reach it."

She looked down at the lab curiously, and he looked cheerfully up at her.

"Jaffer?"

"He's my dog," Jack replied. "And that's Jack, Teal'c's dog."

The yellow lab wagged his tail, just as cheerful as Jaffer. Both of them had clearly decided that this Ancient wasn't an enemy to them.

Before they could get sidetracked talking about the dogs, however – something that Jack could do all day – he turned to the others.

"This is my commanding officer, General Hammond, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and Sam Carter."

"Your _wife_."

He nodded, and Nijay smiled to all of them.

"It is an honor to be here, General Hammond."

Hammond nodded; feeling a lot more relaxed about having an alien on his base.

"The honor is ours," he told her.

Nijay turned to Sam, who now felt as excited as Daniel had been.

"I would like to start with your shield," she told Carter. "The one you have is adequate, but the one Ian Brooks suggested is similar to the one that protects Atlantis, and is far more secure – and safer for your allies and your own people who may need to return here and have lost their codes."

Sam nodded.

"McKay was telling me a little about the one that they have in their reality – which seems a lot like-"

"Do you ladies need me for anything?" Jack asked, interrupting.

Sam smiled, realizing she'd just taken over the conversation.

"Sorry…"

Hammond shook his head.

"Don't be, Major. Just get me a new shield. If you need anything, let us know and we'll get it."

With that, secure in the knowledge that his base – and planet – was safe, Hammond turned and headed back for his office.

**_The END_**


End file.
